Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission
by I.K.A. Valian
Summary: Naruto wakes ten years in the future with no memory of what happened to get him there. Following the only clue he can find, he embarks on a mission to find and save the rest of Team Seven and gets swept back into the events of a galaxy threatened by Reapers. There, he learns that despite the difficulties it puts on him and his mission, it might be better that he doesn't remember.
1. Prologue

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter One: Prologue<p>

The small explosion on the border of Fire Country nearly went unreported. The only reason anyone was aware of the voluminous ball of flame was that a hapless rice farmer transporting his goods to Konoha for sale saw bright lights and loud booms as he passed. The fact that he was traveling at night and half drunk was immediately used as an excuse by the council to dismiss the claim, but acting Hokage Hatake Kakashi sent Team Eight and their Jounin Sensei, Hyuuga Hinata, to scout and investigate. What they brought back was the last person anyone expected them to find, let alone ever see in this world again.

So it was that Naruto awoke. His head was pounding badly and every bit of muscle and bone in his body hurt like he'd been thrown about by one of Pain's Paths for weeks on end. When he opened his eyes, it wasn't to the comforting sight of his room, which would have proved it was all a dream and he'd just pushed himself training too hard again. No, that hope was dashed when he saw he was in the hospital. That meant he'd either nearly gotten himself killed, again, or someone had nearly killed him, again.

Off to his right, seated on a chair with her eyes closed was Tsunade. Her chin rested against her chest as she drew in slow and steady breathes. The fact that she had quite a bit more wrinkles on her once flawless face and that her hair was more white than blond had completely gone over Naruto's head.

She looked like she was really tired, and in his mind, that she was there, waiting for him to wake up when she had Hokage stuff to do meant she'd stayed up late to finish her work so she could come back here to sit by his side. Sakura or Shizune were probably picking up the slack by this time, considering the morning sun was shining merrily in through his room's window over the odd skyline. It was Konoha, if Tsunade was there, but since when did they have a large tower in the center of the village?

Naruto grunted as he pushed himself into a sitting position and looked about the room. Aside from Tsunade, there was no one else nearby or visible. If there were any ANBU Agents nearby, they were very good at hiding. The door was closed giving him and his Hokage even more privacy.

His immediate impulse made itself known when his stomach growled loudly. He quickly clamped a hand over his stomach and then glanced at Tsunade to see if she'd woken up. But she was still out cold. Naruto let out a deep breath of relief.

_Bad, stomach._ He admonished his body. _Don't wake Grandma Tsunade up just cause you're hungry. Old people need their sleep._ Naruto glanced at Tsunade again, just to make sure she was asleep. An odd grimace had appeared on her face, as if she'd just dreamed about sucking down the juices of a raw lemon, but despite that, she still remained asleep. _Okay, first things first, Ramen!_

Naruto quietly got out of bed and stepped onto the floor. The first thing he noticed was how shiny the floor had been buffed when he immediately slipped and fell onto his stomach. The fall wasn't loud, so Naruto wasn't too worried that he'd woken his sleeping warden, but just to be safe, he remained still and didn't breathe for seconds on end while he listened for any changes.

He let out the second breath of relief of the day and slowly pushed himself to his feet again. This time he was careful to gauge how he stood and ended up learning just how out of it he was in the process. His legs did hold him up, but it felt like he hadn't been walking at all for months or someone had ripped his leg muscles to shreds and then stuffed them back into his legs and sewed them in. Every step toward the door was like a painful knife stab to his leg that shot straight into his brain. Nonetheless, the call of Ramen could not be denied, and so he slowly made his way to the door and quietly slid it open.

He poked his head out and looked up and down the hallway. No one, not even a nurse. _That's weird. _With a shrug, Naruto exited his room, quietly slid the door shut. As he made his way down the hallway toward what he hoped was the exit, he carefully held in every painful shout or grunt that his body so fervently wished to make in the hopes of avoiding detection. If he was this bad off, then they'd make him go back to bed and he'd never get any Ramen. So stealth style exit it was.

As he reached the end of the hallway he began to hear the sounds of people just beyond. He slowed his walk, which wasn't really that fast to begin with, so he could listen to what was being said. Nothing any of the women talking made sense, other than the few snippets of hospital talk that he'd heard Sakura, Tsunade, and Shizune say whenever he was around them. The rest was too complicated for him to understand. But at least it confirmed that he was in a hospital.

Before he rounded the corner and made for the exit Naruto glanced down at what he was wearing. What he saw caused him to slow to a stop and look at his clothing more thoroughly. It was a very strange skin suit, much like Rock Lee or Gai Sensei's, only it was orange and black like the clothes he got during his journey with Jiraiya. While he didn't mind the color scheme, he didn't really want to devolve into the "youthful" praising head case that Lee turned into. New clothes were in order before he could leave. Plus, he doubted they would let him leave if they saw him anyway. He needed a disguise.

Naruto turned back around and started checking each of the doors along the hall. The first two doors were locked. The third door easily slid open and revealed a very tidy supply closet and a neatly arrayed set of janitor clothes. _Jackpot!_

* * *

><p>The front desk clerk, a plain young woman with a flat face and large brown eyes and hair, typed away at her computer, much improved devices over the archaic things they used before the 4th War. When the 'clop clop' of crutches reached her ears, she looked up from the screen and watched a young man with blond hair slowly moving past her. She arched one of her brown eyebrows at the man, clearly a janitor from the clothes he wore, as he passed by her.<p>

"Doc said I could head hope cause I broke my toe cleaning one of the rooms," the young man said. "He said to keep all the weight off of it that I could and to get a lot of rest and then come back in tomorrow for the second treatment."

"Okay," the young woman said. "Just be sure to come back early for your check-up." The young man smiled and moved past her. Seconds after he'd left and the glass doors slid shut automatically, a nurse walked up to her desk and sat a stack of papers down.

"Who was that?" the nurse asked.

"I don't know," the clerk said. "I think he was one of the new hires. I've never seen him before."

* * *

><p>Naruto was really happy that his little ruse worked. It always made him feel a little giddy when one of his plans, pranks, or jokes worked according to plan. He was whistling a little tune as he clopped down the road, which was paved now! Since when were Konoha's roads paved? Carts pulled by horses and oxen were moving up and down the streets at an industrious rate, faster than on the dirt road from before anyway.<p>

Walking through Konoha, even at his much slower rate, was like walking through an amusement park or a festival. The buildings were all incredible to look at with all the colors and small things attached to them. The side walk, a new area reserved just for pedestrians, was populated by people in all shapes and sizes. Shops were showing their wares, some for ninja to buy and others for civilians. Street vendors were selling everything from hot finger food, to ice cream, to souvenirs. The sheer number of people in the village was overwhelming.

Then the fact that not even a single person was looking at him in any form of recognition settled in. _No one's looking at me like I'm a monster or a hero… Doesn't anyone remember who I am? I defeated Pain, didn't I?_ Naruto shook his head and continued clopping. _None of this makes sense, but I'm sure I can ask Granny later after I've eaten._

Naruto eventually found himself at the base of the large tower situated in a large open circle of paved road. The tower appeared to be a clock tower, with the Leaf Village symbol painted in red on each of the four sides, now that he had a closer look at it. Above the clock section was a look out post. He could see several ninja standing up there with binoculars spying out into the distance.

Looking back down to the circle, he finally spotted what he was looking for. But even that was different from what he was expecting. Instead of a homely little shack with a few stools set up for any customers who wished to sit down and order, there was an entire fenced off section with lots of tables. Servers moved back and forth, delivering ramen and other food to hungry customers. At the back of the lot was a large, two story building with a much wider bar for people to sit down at eat at.

Naruto shook his head but he wasn't going to look down on a ramen joint just for its opulence. Heck, it made it even better because now more people could be served and they could make more money. And since more people could be served, they could make more ramen faster, which meant he could eat more ramen in less time.

"Good morning, sir," one of the waiters said to him as he clopped up to the entrance of the lot. "Do you wish a table or would you like to eat at the bar?"

"I'm going to eat at the bar," Naruto said. He could already taste the delicious noodles. His mouth was watering so much he had to swallow to keep from drooling like Akamaru. "Cause I'm famished and the sooner the ramen gets to me, the better!"

"Of course, Sir," the waiter said. He turned on his heel and stared walking. "Right this way."

* * *

><p>"Alright, Hinata," Kiba said as he sat down roughly on the right most stool at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. Hinata sat down next to him and then Shino on her left. "What's so important and so secret that you had to tell us in private, away from our students, and at Ichiraku's?"<p>

"My intuition tells me this meeting has to do with the reported explosion on the border," Shino said. "How do I know this? It is after Hinata and her team returns from investigating the explosion that she requests the meeting."

"What can I get for you today," the chef asked. He was a balding, middle-aged man who wore a chef's hat and an apron with the Ichiraku Logo imprinted on it.

"Naruto Special for all of us," Hinata said.

"Right away!" the chef said excitedly.

"Come on, Hinata," Kiba said, though the drawl in his voice implied how uninteresting he anticipated Hinata's reveal to be. "The suspense is _killing_ us."

"I was sworn to secrecy about most of the mission," Hinata began. "But I felt I should give you a fair warning for what you'll eventually find out. About what we-no, _who_ we found out there."

"A noble-man's daughter?" Shino asked.

"Nah, couldn't be a princess…" Kiba muttered, "has to be some kind of criminal or something." A serious look suddenly over came Kiba's face as he turned to Hinata and asked, "You didn't find Kabuto's grave did you? Was some bastard unlucky enough to set off the traps set up around the place that sent them and the monster's remains to kingdom come?"

"The location of the remains of Kabuto would not be in such a place that could be found by some tomb robber or witless traveler," Shino said. "His remains are too dangerous to be left unwatched."

Kiba's face screwed up as he was about to object. Then the Naruto Special ramen bowl was placed in front of him. His expression quickly shifted to a hungry one and he forgot his indignant answer in favor of stuffing his mouth with noodles and broth.

"It's none of those," Hinata said. She poked the noodles in her bowl and the fishcake sitting on top with one of her chopsticks. "We found someone… who shouldn't be here."

"I must admit," Shino said once he swallowed his bite of food. "Now even I am curious as to who this individual is."

"He's-"

Hinata was suddenly cut off when a young man with a shock of yellow hair limped up to a stool, making a clop clop sound with his crutches. The three of them watched a living impossibility sit down on the stool. Then they watched, in silence as the one who should not be there ordered food.

"Hey, old man, gimme two bowls of pork ramen please!"

"Coming right up!" the chef responded happily. He really didn't care that it was only one person ordering two bowls. Either way, it meant he got more money and business was always good these days.

"That's not possible," Kiba said. His chopsticks fell from fingers to plop into his bowl of cooling ramen. His mouth was hanging agape as he stared unabashedly at the blond.

"I tried to warn you," Hinata said as she rolled her eyes and returned to eating. Kiba continued to stare as if his brain had stopped working. Shino tilted his head but otherwise didn't react. "Though knowing him," Hinata continued, "I'm not surprised to find him here… even if he should still be in bed. Maybe I should have suggested a different place to eat."

"You are Uzumaki Naruto?" Shino asked the blond suddenly. Kiba broke from his brain freeze to try and grab Shino to tell him to be quiet. Unfortunately, he only managed to flail his arm in Shino's general direction and gape his mouth like a fish out of water. Hinata maintained her poise and continued eating her meal with the deft and delicate touch any proud Hyuuga had and at the same time ignored her former teammates and the blond.

"Huh?" the blond turned and looked at the three of them. His brow crinkled as he concentrated on them for a few seconds and then he shrugged, obviously giving up thinking of whatever he tried to come up with. "Yeah," Naruto answered after the long pause. "Who are you?"

"I am… a friend," Shino said.

"Well, you're the first one who's recognized me today!" Naruto beamed but his happy face quickly faltered. "Maybe the only one. I thought after everything I've done, people would at least recognize me. It's worse than before I beat Pain even. At least then people looked at me, even if it was only to glare. Now it's… no one knows I even exist."

"Here's your order sir," the chef said as he placed the two bowls of pork ramen in front of Naruto. "That'll be-"

"Please, allow me to pay," Shino said as he nodded at the chef. "I get the feeling that my friend here is a little short on cash."

"Yes, alright," the chef said. "I'll add it to you bill then."

"Hey, thanks mister," Naruto said, halfway done with the second bowl. "I don't know what happened to my wallet."

Just then there was loud beeping that drew everyone's attention to Hinata. Hinata placed her chopsticks down on top of her empty bowl, reached into the right breast pocket of her vest, and pulled out a small handheld radio. She pressed a button on its side and loud shouting started coming through.

"_-eat! The subject has escaped from the hospital. All search squads have been ordered mobilized by the acting Hokage. Look for yellow hair and a janitor's uniform._"

Naruto slouched into his stool as he listened to what was being said. He'd been found out. Hinata sighed and pressed a different button and spoke into the radio. "Call off the search. I've got eyes on the target."

"_Who is this?_"

"This is Jounin Operator Hyuuga Hinata, number zero-zero-four-eight. I've got eyes on the target and will escort him to the Tower after he's finished eating. He got hungry and decided on ramen."

"_Oh thank goodness. Copy that, Hinata. See you in a bit._"

"I guess this means you gotta bring me… in… wait… Hinata? Hyuuga Hinata?" Completely forgetting that he couldn't walk let alone stand without crutches, Naruto jumped from his stool and pointed at Hinata with an accusatory finger. Then his legs gave out and he crumpled to the ground.

Naruto watched from the ground as Hinata, Shino, and Kiba stood. They towered over him as they gazed down upon their long lost friend. Hinata bowed to Naruto and then held out a hand to him.

"You've got a lot of catching up to do," she said, "Naruto-kun."

* * *

><p>The doors to the Hokage's office burst open and Naruto barged right in as if he owned the place, just as he'd done every time before he'd been brought here. Sure, the building was taller, looked sturdier, and had lots of shiny new equipment on the inside. But it was still the same Hokage Tower that it had always been, and that included the Hokage's office with a wide view of the village.<p>

"Alright, Granny, what's all this crap about me being ten years younger than everyone else and what happened to Konoha, it's totally different than it used to be. And… and…" Naruto stopped talking when he saw that it was not Tsunade wearing the hat, but Kakashi. Tsunade was in the room, but she now stood off to the side. "Wait, Kaka-sensei, why are you wearing the Hokage's hat?"

Kakashi sighed and pulled the hat from his head. As he set it down on the desk, several ANBU agents appeared around Naruto, all with their swords pointed at his neck. Before Naruto could let out a help, one of the ANBU had tied his hands and arms together before shoving him backwards so he fell into a chair, where upon more ropes were used to bind him down.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted. Sure his body felt way, way better after the food kicked in, plus the extra ten bowls helped fill the ramen void he'd been holding back since waking. But it wasn't like he was in any condition to fight anything stronger than a civilian at this point. "What's the deal? I just got here, it's not like I'm going to run off now! You still haven't told me what the hell is going on!"

"Naruto," Kakashi said as the ANBU finished their handiwork and vanished once more, "You're not just younger than everyone. You've been gone for over ten years."

"Whaat?" Naruto twisted at the ropes holding him down. "That doesn't make any sense! Come on, untie me! What's with this anyway?"

"After that stunt you pulled in the war and then just now in the hospital, we're not taking any chances," Tsunade said. As Naruto calmed down enough realize these ropes were very well tied and he wasn't going to get out, he glared at the only two others in the room.

That's when he got his first really good look at them. Kakashi didn't just have silver hair now, he had graying hair. He also had several extra scars that weren't there last time he saw him, a small beard, and his headband was replaced by a simple eye patch. Of course, the only thing he really saw after that was the one good eye glaring daggers at him.

Then there was Tsunade. He was wrong to dismiss the older look to her face from the hospital. Her eyes were softer too, despite the hard edge the still held. Nevertheless, she was clearly angry at him now. It was at times like this that being tied down to a chair with an irate slug princess in the same room that one regretted every sinful act in their lives.

"Naruto," Kakashi said, "where have you been all this time?"

"What are you talking about Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asked, much more quiet this time. Then he tried to think of where he had been last and that's when he realized that the big, dark, splotch in his memory hadn't faded since waking or eating. "I…" Naruto frowned as he concentrated harder. "I was… uh… it had something to do with ramen."

Tsunade deadpanned Naruto and quickly walked up to him. Fearing for his life, Naruto attempted to escape again, but the ropes held firm. Resigned to his fate, Naruto closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable blow that would send him through a couple walls or out the window and over the village to the forest beyond. Instead a warm and soothing sensation filled his head from the top of his scalp.

Naruto opened his eyes to see Tsunade holding her hand, now glowing green. After several seconds of scanning Naruto's head, the green glow died down. Then Naruto was stunned when Tsunade's hand fell onto his hair and patted him.

"We missed you, brat," Tsunade said. "We all did."

"I suppose brain damage is out of the question," Kakashi said. "It's healed from when you were watching over him in the hospital?"

"It has," Tsunade said as she walked back to the window and stared out over the village. "There will be scarring, but his friend is helping the healing along quite well. By this time tomorrow he should be completely healed. That also means that whatever memories were lost are likely lost for good. The neural pathways have to rebuild themselves. A Yamanaka could probably tell you more, but you probably won't get much."

"I see," Kakashi said. Then he shrugged. "No loss for us then. We're just going to have to find out by other means."

"Hey!" Naruto shouted. "Come one, what's wrong with me? What happened? You said I was gone for over ten years. That's impossible."

"Naruto," Kakashi said. "I know your memory was never the greatest, but please try. What is the last thing you remember clearly?"

Naruto frowned as he delved back into his past. He remembered growing up in Konoha. Graduating from the Academy, despite Mizuki's attempt on his life. Iruka-sensei buying him ramen. _That was good ramen!_ Getting on Team Seven with Sakura and Sasuke. _Stupid Sasuke!_ Being tied to a post. Being left tied to a post. The mission to Wave. His vow to himself. Zabuza… Haku. His Nindo. _I fight for my precious people! _The chunin exams. Orochimaru. Gaara. Jiraiya. Tsunade. Itachi and Sasuke. _Stupid Sasuke ran away and made Sakura cry! _The three years training with Jiraiya. Coming back to Konoha. _Hehe, Sakura really liked Konohamaru's Boy on Boy Sexy Jutsu. I always knew she was a perv!_ Saving Gaara from the Akatski. Sai. Fighting Orochimaru. Kicking Kakuzu's ass. _I remember that… Rasensuriken. Good times._ Chasing Itachi down only to get a crow shoved down his throat. _Why does that crow feel so familiar? _Mastering Sage Mode with the toads. Pain killing Jiraiya. Pain killing everyone else he cared. Fighting Pain. Almost dying only to be saved by Hinata, and then his father. _Dad…_ Pain giving up and reviving everyone with his Rinnegan. Everyone except Jiraiya. Mastering the key to Kurama's seal. _Kurama… when did I learn that? I can't remember._ Granny Tsunade falling into a coma and then Danzo taking over. Danzo being killed by Sasuke. _Good riddance, I say._ And then finally, the S-Rank mission to the turtle island with Killer B where he learned to control Kurama's power for the first time. _That's when I met mom… I remember that. I miss her._

It is only after he's wrested control of Kurama's chakra from the giant beast that things got fuzzy. There were flashes of fighting. One very big image of him punching the Raikage in the face. _Hell yeah!_ And then the final image, which was too fuzzy to see anything beyond shadows, but he could still hear the echoes of what was being said.

"Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, Gyuki, Kurama."

"Who are they?" Kakashi asked. Naruto jerked his eyes open, the warm feeling from having said those names vanishing to the back of his mind. "Is that the last thing you remember?"

"Those names… nine names…" Tsunade said to herself. "No… how?"

"I made a promise to them," Naruto said quietly. He concentrated again to figure out what exactly he promised them. But all he drew was a blank. "I can't remember who or what they were, but I promised them something. The last one is the Kyuubi, though. I remember that much. Other than that, the last thing I really can remember well is the mission to the turtle island."

Kakashi glanced over to Tsunade who looked at him and nodded. "That far back, hmm? Nothing about where you were in the mean time? Where you went after the final attack?"

Naruto shook his head. "What are you talking about? What final attack? I was cataloging the wild life on the island and I used the waterfalls of truth and the temple there to gain control over Kurama's chakra. And then… Then I can't remember anything but hearing those names and feeling like I made them a promise. That's it! I swear!"

Kakashi huffed and stood. "I guess we'll need the Yamanaka after all." He walked passed Naruto, placed his hat back on his head, and opened to doors to leave. "I'll be back."

Silence filled the space between Naruto and Tsunade. Naruto focused on the feeling he felt after saying the names, but it was too illusive to grasp. Shaking his head, he looked at Tsunade and noticed that her whole body was stiff.

"Hey, Granny, what's wrong?"

Tsunade snorted. "I can't believe I missed being called an old woman by a brat like you," she said. But despite the heat in her voice, her posture relaxed slightly. Then she turned to face him with the most serious of looks on her face. "Naruto. You wouldn't happen to know what happened to Sakura, would you?"

"Sakura…" Naruto frowned and thought back. Nope, no memory of that there. "No… but didn't she stay with you when I went on the turtle mission?"

Tsunade sighed sadly. "No, she was a medic in the war, promoted to head medic in Kakashi's regiment. When Kakashi and Gai went to back you up, Sakura somehow got dragged along. You and she vanished, along with Tobi and Sasuke."

Naruto frowned. He pushed really hard this time to remember something, anything, like what Tsunade was saying. Before it was an exercise to remember because Kakashi wanted information. Now it was a desperate desire to remember because Sakura could be in trouble, or worse. But no matter how hard he pushed into his memory, the blotchy shadowy nothingness that surrounded his most recent memories remained firm. He could remember nothing.

"Why," Naruto asked. His voice cracked as his emotions got the better of him. "Why can't I remember?" A single tear slid down his cheek as his desperation turned to melancholy. Sakura was in trouble and he couldn't do anything to help.

"When Hinata and her genin found you, you were badly injured," Tsunade said. "I was called back from the capitol to help heal your injuries. It wasn't just that your body was nearly completely destroyed underneath your skin, but your brain too had large open wounds. Yet your skull was undamaged, as if someone teleported a knife inside and then back out. I did what I could to save your life, but apparently it wasn't enough to save everything. At the end, the nine-tails power took over and you started healing on your own. Your brain, along with the rest of your body, just started pulling itself back together. You've been unconscious for about two months now."

Naruto hung his head as he took all this in. Two months and all he'd done was lay on a slab and breath. Meanwhile, Sakura could be in trouble, or worse, everyone had gone through over ten years of time without him, and now he couldn't remember anything beyond what happened, apparently, over ten years ago.

"You'll never guess who I found," Kakashi said as he walked back in. He looked up from Naruto's brooding, despairing form to Tsunade. "You told him?"

"He's not a spy and he deserves to know," she said. Then she turned to the blond who entered behind Kakashi. "Ino, it's good to see you. How are you?"

"Ah, um, I'm doing fine ma'am. We're selling a lot of flowers for the festival at the capitol. I hope everything is going well for you?"

Tsunade shrugged and waved Ino off. "Same old politics, new building. The only consolation I can take is that we're stabbing each other in the back with words and not kunai."

"While it _is_ nice that you ladies are catching up," Kakashi said, "could you, maybe, talk about that stuff later? This one doesn't look like he'll last much longer."

The three looked down at Naruto, who was hanging his head even lower now. Ino walked up to him and pushed his head back. Then she gasped as she looked into Naruto's bright blue eyes.

"I had been told but… I still didn't believe it could be true."

"Oh, it's more true than you can imagine," Kakashi said. "He's already snuck out of the hospital to get ramen." Kakashi sighed melodramatically. "Just like old times."

"Ino," Naruto said, his voice scratchy. "I can't remember. I… I was hurt and I can't remember. And Sakura could be in trouble."

Ino frowned. Then she took a deep breath and calmed herself. She'd lost Sakura over ten years ago, after all. Like almost everyone else who lost friends in the war, she moved on. That Naruto, supposedly lost in the final attack, was now sitting tied to a chair in front of her… she wouldn't let that shake her resolve to keep moving forward.

"Then let's see if you are repressing the memories instead of having lost them, okay?"

Naruto gulped loudly and then nodded. Ino wouldn't be the first Yamanaka to attempt to get into his head. He just hoped that she wouldn't run away screaming and pulling their hair out like all the rest.

In quick succession, Ino made the hand seals and then formed a triangle in front of her with her pointer fingers and her thumbs. She centered Naruto's head in the triangle and said, "Mind Body Switch, activate!" Neither Ino nor her target saw Ino's body get caught by Kakashi or Naruto's head slump forward again.

* * *

><p>Ino found herself standing in a pool of ankle deep water. Only the water was stretched out forever in every direction and the darkness overhead was like a night sky with innumerable stars twinkling. Naruto grunted next to her as he looked around as well. He was frowning as he inspecting his mindscape.<p>

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's different," he said. "It used to be sewers, not this. Is this what happens when you get brain damage?"

Ino frowned. She shook her head and said, "I don't have much experience with brain injured people, only prisoners trying to keep me out. Let's move forward and see what we can find along the way."

"Yeah. I should check in on Kurama while we're here too. I want to see if he's alright."

Ino paused mid step and looked at Naruto sideways with a questioning look. "Kurama?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," he said and flashed a grin. "You know, the fox."

Ino's eyes widened and she quickly looked around. If that demon was loose down here from all the damage, then she and Naruto were likely in danger. Though it was curious as to why the fox hadn't eaten her and Naruto yet, but he was a demon. Far be it from her to know what went through its head. Then she saw Naruto frowning at her.

"He's not going to attack you," he said sternly, as her father might have admonished her for fearing a cute little puppy sniffing her legs. But the fox was not cute, or little, or a puppy. He was a man-eating, demonic, monster fox that consumed souls and destroyed villages. The fact that Naruto was standing here and admonishing her like she was afraid of nothing was laughable. "And even if he did, I'd put him in his place. So you got nothing to worry about."

"How can you be so calm about this?" Ino asked. She swallowed and forced herself to calm down. That almost sounded hysterical. "Whether you give him a pet name or not, he's still the monster that nearly destroyed the village."

"He's not a pet," Naruto shouted angrily, "he's an ally. And I didn't name him Kurama, the Sage of Six Paths did. So show some respect!"

"I… Wha…" This was completely off the wall information Naruto was coming up with, even for him.

"Look," Naruto said, still perturbed, but trying to change the subject, "let's just look for anything that can help Sakura. You can leave after that and I'll look in on Kurama alone." After that, Naruto just started walking away silently into the darkness of his mind.

Ino took a deep breath and then forged ahead. The Hokage had given her a mission and she was going to see it through. Naruto was looking for something to help Sakura. That did fall under her mission mandate, but so did finding anything else that would help piece together what Naruto had been doing for the past decade.

As they moved over the surface of whatever they were walking on, they passed several stars that seemed to lower themselves from the sky until they were close enough to look at in detail. Instead of being giant balls of light too bright to look at, they were balls of light with memories playing out across their surfaces. Ino quickly realized that all the stars in the sky were Naruto's memories.

Naruto snorted watching the memory sphere they now stood under. It was a memory of one of his spats with Sasuke before he'd defected to Orochimaru. Naruto shook his head and moved on. Ino watched herself in the memory sphere run up and beat on Naruto for bothering Sasuke.

"I can't believe I acted like such an airhead," she mumbled.

"Hey," Naruto shouted from further ahead. "What's up with this one? It's chained down and covered up and stuff."

Ino caught up to Naruto and found him trying to pull a black tarp off of a glowing sphere of light that was further restrained by thick, heavy metal chains. She quickly pulled Naruto back.

"Wait," she said. "Memories that are hidden and locked away like this are usually something the mind does to protect itself." She looked up at the sky to maybe guess what this memory could be about based on the other memories nearby, but this section of Naruto's memory sky was completely blank, like the memories had from this section of Naruto's life had been erased. "There are no other memories nearby. Whatever this memory is must be very powerful if it's the only one still in this section."

"So… whatever is under there could hurt me?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," she said. "If you open it, then you'll have to deal with the pain of the memory right away instead of getting over it gradually. If you can't handle the memory then it could kill you."

"Hah!" Naruto barked. "Don't you remember who I am? I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I don't care what year it is, I'm still going to become Hokage one day! And I always fight for my friends, so if whatever is under here can help me find Sakura, I'm going to rip this thing off and find out."

Ino chuckled. She's forgotten what Naruto could be like when he got riled up. If you told him doing something to help a friend could possibly hurt or straight up kill him, he just grinned and did whatever it was all the happier. She kind of missed this reckless courage.

"But, it can't hurt to be prepared," he added. Then he formed a hand seal and several dozen clones appeared around them. "Alright guys, I'm going to open up this memory and see what's inside. It could make… uh… Ino what could be under here?"

"Anything from dealing with a bad hair day to your worst nightmares," she said. Despite the calmness with which she spoke, she still grinned. "Knowing you it'll be a dentist telling you that you have cavities in all your teeth so they have to be pulled out. And you can't eat ramen anymore."

That last part was added in jest. Naruto, and all his clones, had taken it seriously. Every single one of them grew whiter than the palest white flower petal she'd ever seen. The very idea of being banned from ramen, apparently, _was_ Naruto's worst nightmare.

"Don't even joke about that," Naruto rasped, his voice shaking. "That was the worst nightmare I've ever had… I…" he shivered. "No, it can't be that bad. It's probably some kind of battle with Sasuke or Orochimaru."

Ino looked at Naruto incredulously. He considered fighting two of the most dangerous men, even if only in memory, to be better than never being allowed to eat ramen again?

"Half of you start making Rasengans," Naruto said to his clones. "The rest of you go sage mode and ready some Rasensuriken. I'm not taking any chances. If any of you even see some crazy, wild-eyed, crazy doctor with empty ramen bowls, don't ask, just attack."

"Right boss," the clones responded and then got down to business preparing. Ino had to chuckle. He was taking the threat to ramen seriously.

With no small amount of trepidation, Naruto approached the tarp and carefully gripped the edges of it. Light shone out from where the tarp didn't fully cover the sphere. With a final nod to his clones, Naruto gave a mighty tug and the tarp ripped off with a loud tearing sound.

The chains holding the sphere down snapped and gave way as the memory sphere quickly rose into the sky and exploded. Sparkling bits of light rained down over Naruto, Ino, and his clones. And then the surrounding geography changed from a flat, water logged plan, to a dark metallic structure of some kind. Lights all over the place gave off a red haze to the entire place. Ino immediately felt a pressure on her skull. A sound appeared in the background that was annoying, constant, and digging into her mind.

Naruto, and all his clones, groaned and fell to the floor. The clones quickly dispersed under the assault of the sound. Ino could barely hold herself together as she pushed the intruding sound from her mind with a well structured barrier.

Then she saw him. Or them. In the memory playing out before her was Naruto, wearing that really strange orange and black jumpsuit, and after three looks just to be sure, Sasuke. He wore a full body suit of armor, with a helmet over his head. He held his sword in one hand and simply stared at Naruto. Then she noticed that the Mangekyo Sharingan was active in his eyes. It was hard to see through the glass face plate, but it was definitely there.

"_**It matters not**__,_" said a deep and booming voice just as Naruto slumped to the ground in front of Sasuke. "_**You have failed. In freeing his mind of indoctrination, you have destroyed it. In delaying his destruction, you have brought about your own. Your resistance ends here.**_"

"You're wrong," Sasuke said. He took several steps toward Naruto and pulled something out of a pocket in the armor. "Naruto can heal from anything, even this. By destroying the parts of his mind you corrupted, I've given him full control over his body again. He will heal eventually and become the leader of our people." Sasuke kneeled down next to Naruto and attached the device he pulled out of his pocket to an orange contraption that appeared around Naruto's arm. The device beeped once before it started to whir and make a high pitched whine. Just as Naruto's body began to glow and then fade, his eyes began to flutter open.

Next to Ino, the real Naruto gasped and grunted as he pushed himself onto his hands and knees. "Sasuke?" both he and his memory-self said at the same time.

"Don't come back for us," Sasuke said to Naruto. "You were right, about everything. Now go be a good Hokage."

Then the memory-Naruto vanished and the scene faded from view. Fire and high winds took their place as memory Naruto found himself falling. And then darkness.

Naruto gasped and up right. He immediately looked down at his right hand and concentrated, but nothing happened. Ino tilted her head a little but didn't say anything.

"I don't remember anything except for that," Naruto said. "Something in me had to be destroyed. Something bad."

"The voice called it indoctrination," Ino said. "Do you know what that is?"

"No," Naruto said as he got to his feet. He shook his head and started walking again. "But now I know what happened to Sakura and Sasuke. They're still there… where ever that is. I have to go back and bring them home. I swear it!"

Ino was silent as she followed Naruto. She had completed her mission. She knew now where Naruto had been, sort of, and had information in regards to Sasuke and Sakura. A brief surge of emotion threatened to overtake her at the thought of her friend being alive again, but she quashed it before it could become a problem. Then she looked up and gasped. Before her was a giant gate attached to a wall that seemed to fade into existence from the nothingness of the sky above.

"What is… this place?"

"It's Kurama's house, or cage, or whatever foxes live in," Naruto said as he walked up to the door and pushed it open with one hand. The metal gate slid open silently, like the mouth of the demon itself was opening to swallow her and Naruto whole.

"Oh shit," she said as the gate fully opened and she realized that the cage was no longer closed. She was probably six steps away from being eaten by the demon fox.

"You can stay out here if you're so worried," Naruto said before he vanished into the darkness beyond the gate. Ino was about to chase after him, but decided it would be better not to. She brought her hands together and formed the hand sign.

"Release!"

* * *

><p>"Unh…" Ino sat up from her spot on the floor. An ANBU helped her sit up and gave her a cup of water which she drank heartily. Nodding to the ANBU that she would be alright, she continue drinking. The ANBU took the sign and vanished.<p>

"What did you find, Ino?" Kakashi asked. He was once again seated behind his desk with his hat on once again. Tsunade now sat in a chair against the wall on the other side of the room. She looked tired.

"He wasn't lying about not remembering anything," Ino said. "But there was one repressed memory. He pulled it open and I believe I saw a clue as to where Naruto had been and how he got back here."

"Gah!" Naruto's head snapped up and he started breathing quickly, like he'd just woken from a nightmare about running forever. "Stupid Kurama, what the hell was that for! I just wanted to make sure you were ok-urk!" Naruto tried to move, but quickly discovered that he was still tied to the chair. "Not this again," he moaned.

"Naruto," Kakashi said, "before I ask what that was about, did you find any memories to help you find out where you've been?"

"Didn't Ino tell you?" Naruto asked. He turned to look at the woman just now getting to her feet. "You did send her in to find something to confirm my story, didn't you?"

Kakashi smiled his one eye smile and nodded. Tsunade snorted and crossed her arms over her generous bust. Ino sighed and moved to lean against the wall.

"To be more specific," Kakashi said, "how do you feel now that you remember what happened, even if only just one memory?"

"I'm going back, of course," Naruto said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Someone's gotta save Sakura and Sasuke. They're not saving themselves, are they?"

"Ino," Tsunade said, "what did you see in that memory?"

"Hey, I saw it too," Naruto shouted.

"Yes, but you were sprawled out on the ground from the pain of remembering," Ino said. "I saw everything from a more objective point of view. The memory was of how Naruto came back to this world. He was in some kind of metal cave with lights everywhere. Naruto and Sasuke were there, but Sasuke was wearing some kind of full body armor and Naruto was wearing that leotard thing. Sasuke was using his Mangekyo Sharingan on him, I think the Tsukiyomi ability.

"After a bit Naruto fell to the ground. A loud, deep voice that was both in my head and in my ears was boasting to Sasuke about how he had failed, you know the basic villain dialog. Apparently, the thing Sasuke was talking to had brainwashed Naruto or something and Sasuke burned it out of his head. Sasuke, for some reason, was defending Naruto as if he hadn't just caused him to fall to the ground near comatose. Then Sasuke attached some weird device to a glowing orange… thing that appeared around Naruto's right hand. He activated it and told Naruto to not come back for them and to become a good Hokage. Finally, the world around Naruto vanished and went fuzzy, followed by an explosion."

"Is that it?" Kakashi asked. "Darn, I was hoping to find out what caused the explosion. Also, I highly doubt Sasuke would be the one to defend or help Naruto."

"It was!" Naruto said loudly, but he was looking down as he relived that part of the memory again. "He… I don't know why, but he was helping me. That voice had indoctrinated me, or something, and Sasuke saved me. And then he told me that I was right about everything. I don't know what he meant, but he told me not to go back and get them. I am going to completely ignore that request. They're my friends, I have to go back and get them."

"Naruto," Kakashi shook his head. He nodded to Ino, who took the cue and left. When she closed the door, he looked at Naruto and said, "You finally got back here, no matter where you were or whether you can remember what happened. What makes you think we'd let you go?"

Naruto's head snapped up and he looked straight into Kakashi's eye. The two of them had a staring contest. Eventually it looked like the hard, bored look Kakashi was giving Naruto was going to win out.

"Those who break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their friends are worse than trash," Naruto said. He enunciated each word clearly as if he were driving a nail into a coffin. Kakashi reacted silently, only his eye widened visibly. Then he looked away from Naruto and sighed.

"Damn it, Obito," Kakashi said. He looked at Naruto again, but this time he seemed resigned to Naruto's chosen course of action. "Very well," Kakashi said. "But on several conditions. First, we have to take apart that device and reverse engineer it. The technology in that thing is well beyond what we're capable of right now and I don't like the idea of sending anyone, let alone just you, Naruto, into the unknown without any way of getting you back."

"Cool," Naruto said, grinning widely. "How long is that going to take?"

"Several years."

"What?" Naruto quickly shook his head. "No, no, no, no, no, no! I need to go now."

"Would you just shut idiot," Tsunade snapped. Naruto immediately shut up but he was frowning deeply. "Let the man finish talking."

"It will take several years of study for us to even understand the basics behind the basics of a device that complicated. Replicating it will probably take beyond my lifetime. But, because time is of the essence, I'm going to have the Seal Jutsu teams make a chakra imprint of the device so that we can study it on paper."

"A chakra what?" Naruto asked.

"Complicated way of saying we're going to copy it onto paper and let you use the original," Tsunade said. "But that doesn't mean we're just letting you run off into the unknown without any kind of back up."

"We're going to be applying a seal to you," Kakashi said, "That will let us track you through space-time."

"Cool, so are you going to use that to bring me, Sasuke, and Sakura back here?" Naruto asked.

"Err… no, not exactly," Kakashi said. "The exact specifics are kind of hard to explain, but the seal will be used to find out where you went and how far away it is from here. Actually pulling you back will have to wait until we understand that device you're using to move between worlds."

"So then… How are we going to get back?" Naruto asked. "There's only one device and I don't know if it'll work for anyone else but me. And shouldn't we be finding a way to get back to when we left… whenever that was ten years ago?"

"That's going to be your mission," Tsunade said. "Your primary goal is to track down Sakura. I suppose that it now includes tracking down Sasuke as well. Your second goal is to find a way to bring all three of you home and if possible find a way to modify the device to target your original time. Once we figure out how to send stuff, we'll be using your tracking seal to send you support packages. However it is important that you be aware this is a one way trip."

"A mission?" Naruto looked back and forth between Tsunade and Kakashi. "You were planning on me going the whole time? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Would you have wanted to go back before you found that memory?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto growled. "Damn you Kaka-sensei! Untie me so I can kick your ass!"

"You wouldn't hit an innocent old man, would you?" Kakashi asked, holding his hands up in front of him as if he were trying to ward off the attacks.

"Innocent old man my foot," Naruto shouted. "You're just a old pervert who still reads ten year old porn!"

Tsunade snorted, shortly followed by chuckling. "He's been gone over ten years and he still has you pegged, Kakashi," she said. "I'm going to miss him when he goes."

Naruto bit back his reply, only now realizing what they were going through. For him, he'd seen these people just a couple weeks ago. For them, they hadn't seen him for years, over a decade. Not only that, but he hadn't really felt like he lost them at all, even though they were ten years older. For them, they'd lost him once already and now they were losing him again with no guarantee of getting him back.

"I see you finally understand what leaving means," Kakashi said. "But you're right, it has to be done. Sakura and, I guess now, Sasuke need to be brought back. Wherever you four went, it's not where you belong."

"I'm sorry," Naruto said. "When I get us back to our normal time, it'll be like we'd never gone and you won't have to worry about this. Wait-four?"

"Don't you remember what I said," Tsunade said. "When I told you about Tobi's final attack? You, Sasuke, Sakura, and Tobi were never seen again after he launched it."

"And if you, Sakura, and Sasuke wound up in the same place, then that means Tobi most likely did as well," Kakashi finished. "I would highly recommend that you don't go looking for him. I was knocked unconscious by that time, so I've had to go by what other people said what happened. Last reports from the war suggested that he'd sealed the first seven tailed beasts into himself. They've yet to re-manifest, so it seems likely that is what happened before he launched the attack. It's probably all of their power that enabled him to send you four so far away. Even you don't have the power to resist someone like that, Naruto."

Naruto was silent but nodded. Tobi, or Madara, or whoever he wanted to be called, was not someone he wanted to think about having the ability to strike at his friends. Even more of a reason to go back for his friends. And then there was that promise to the names. If Kurama was the last name, and the other names all came first, then they were possibly the names of the other tailed beasts. If he made a promise to them it likely involved saving them from Tobi. He'd have to make good on that promise while he was there then. He never when back on his word, after all.

* * *

><p>It was decided, two weeks later, that Naruto would activate the device in the woods, far away from Konoha. This was a precaution in case another explosion occurred. Everyone who came out with him to wish him well on his journey, which meant only those whom he'd been friends with before he'd vanished ten years prior, would be leaving the area too. Naruto would wait until they were far enough away to activate the device. He'd also go into Sage Mode just in case he was dropped into a battle or something.<p>

During the two weeks that he was waiting for the ninja teams to make the Chakra Imprint, Naruto did a little training, ate a ton of ramen, and caught up on worldly events.

Tsunade was the Konoha Representative in the Shinobi Congress, a ten year old governing body that ruled over all nations, settled international disputes, and enforced the hard won peace. She was going to be retiring in the coming months, after a prosperous career as Sannin, Hokage, and finally Representative. She confided in Naruto her hopes to have a nice and quiet retirement, unlike the last one with Shizune. Shizune had gotten married and was off healing the sick, or "something along those lines."

Hinata, Ino, Kiba, Shino, Rock Lee (who now looked more like Gai than Gai did), Tenten, Neji, Shikamaru, Choji, and Konohamaru all told him wild and colorful stories about their adventures over the last decade. It made him feel even more depressed that he'd missed so much, and all the more excited about what he had to look forward to when he returned at the proper time with Sasuke and Sakura.

Kakashi related a few tales of his father, the fourth Hokage, to him. The acting Hokage told Naruto he didn't understand some of the things Minato had complained about until he'd taken the position himself. He also explained the reason he wasn't officially Hokage, even though he acted like he was anyway. It was in honor of Naruto himself, whom Kakashi swore should be Hokage instead. So Kakashi was only keeping the seat warm, as it were. Not that he didn't enjoy the perks that came with the job, like the magic crystal ball he kept in his lower right drawer.

When it finally came time, Naruto found himself, fully stocked with the latest weapons, equipment, and rations in a wide open field with several shadow clones of his friends, Tsunade, and Kakashi. Neji, who'd turned into a technology buff after the war, was explaining how the device worked to him while he figured out how the glowing orange device on his arm worked. After he'd figured that out and Neji was sure Naruto understood that the batteries on the device had only enough charge for one transport at a time before they had to be refilled with Raiton nature chakra and normal yin/yang chakra, Naruto was only left standing with Kakashi and Tsunade.

"Just like old times, in a way," Kakashi's clone said. "About to head off on another adventure. Feels great to get out of that stuffy office every now and then."

"Don't get too comfortable, cause I'm coming back and taking that hat and seat away," Naruto said with a cocky grin. "And don't worry, I _will_ bring them back and we'll set everything right."

Kakashi's clone nodded and then held out his hand. "Good bye, Naruto. I hope we meet again, under better circumstances."

"We will," Naruto said with a grin as he grabbed Kakashi's hand and shook it. "And that's a promise of a lifetime!" Kakashi's clone nodded and popped out of existence, a cloud of smoke left in its wake. Naruto turned to Tsunade's clone and was suddenly enveloped in a big hug. Naruto's cocky grin turned into a genuine smile as he hugged her back. "I promise, Granny, I'll set everything right."

"If you don't Naruto, I'll haunt you after I die," Tsunade's clone said. "No matter where you end up." She pulled back and looked Naruto in the eyes. "Be safe."

Naruto nodded and took a step back. Tsunade's clone popped away and left him utterly alone on the field. Naruto looked down at the device that hummed with life in his hand. He lifted up his right hand and activated the orange glove.

After taking a deep breath, Naruto closed his eyes and focused on the natural energy around him, in the air, the earth, and beyond. Once he felt the rush of Sage Mode activating, Naruto opened his now yellow, frog eyes, fitted the device onto the glove, and pressed the button on top. The device whirred loudly, beeped once, and then there was a funny sucking sensation from his center. Naruto had felt the feeling before when he was reverse summoned to the summoning dimension.

Moments later, he wasn't on the field any more. Instead, he now stood in a much darker metal chamber with a large, boxy, metal carriage (of some design he'd never seen before and couldn't make heads or tails of) off to one side. Directly in front of him was a huge door that, seconds after noticing it, swooshed open with click and a beep. Revealed were three people, a dead body behind them on the floor.

"I've had enough of this station to last a lifetime," said a woman with red hair in armor eerily similar to the one he remembered Sasuke wearing. Next to her was another woman, who had black hair and wore a scandalously curve clinging white body suit and was faced toward the first woman.

"Or two, in your case," the second woman said. "Come on."

"Who's that?" shouted a black man, wearing a black uniform, as he pointed at Naruto.

Naruto swallowed loudly as he realized that he'd been seen while standing like an idiot out in the open. He was about to jump behind the large, boxy, metal carriage when he suddenly found himself floating away from the floor. His arms and legs flailed around as he tried to move anywhere but toward the three people.

"Whoa!" he shouted as the three pulled out some kind of devices and pointed them at him. "Hold on, I'm not gonna hurt you. Come on! You gotta believe me!"

"I don't know who you are or how you got in here," said the woman with black hair, "but it's safer to assume that you're not at a _secret_ facility for anything benign." She gripped the thing in her hand a little tighter when the first woman suddenly pushed the black haired woman's arm down. The thing in the woman's hand let out a loud bang and something ricocheted off the floor and further into the room.

"Hang on Miranda," the red haired woman said. "I think I know who that is."

"We don't have time for this," the woman named Miranda said. "Either we shoot him or we take him with us. I don't know how he got onto a secure Cerberus base, but the fact that he did, and isn't a Cerberus operative means he already knows too much. I _should_ shoot him."

"Just hang on," the red head said. "I want to ask him a question and see if it's really him or just another clone."

"Have it your way," Miranda said. "I'm going to get the shuttle prepared. You have two minutes. I do hope you can shoot him if he proves not to meet your expectations."

Miranda put the shooting thing onto her hip, where it magically stayed. Probably magnets or something like that, Naruto reasoned. Miranda then walked toward the large, boxy, metal carriage and waved her hand over it. When she waved her hand, an orange glove like thing that was very similar to the one Naruto had, came to life and vanished. Then the side of the carriage lifted into the air and a spacious inside was revealed, into which Miranda disappeared.

"Hello," the red head said. "Do you know who I am?"

Naruto shook his head vigorously. "I've never met you before in my life." Then he remembered that he couldn't actually remember some large swaths of his life. "Or maybe I have?"

"Which is it?" the woman asked.

"I don't remember a lot of what happened to me over the past few months," Naruto said. "But I do know that I lost my memory of being here because Uchiha Sasuke was the one who took them away. He did it to save me from something called Indoctrination. I have no clue what that is though. I know that it was this place because I have one of those glowing arm glove things."

The red head frowned and then made a hand motion toward the black man. He nodded and lowered his arm, a purple glow fading from around his hand. In that instant, Naruto fell to the ground and landed with a small grunt. He was surprised when he saw an armored hand appear in before him.

"I knew Uchiha Sasuke," the woman said as she helped Naruto to his feet. "He helped me defeat a Turian named Saren and a Reaper named Sovereign. We also fought you and many of your clones while you were under the effects of Indoctrination."

"I… I'm sorry," Naruto said. He grimaced as he silently cursed himself for being unable to stop this indoctrination thing. "Whatever was wrong with me is gone now. Sasuke burned it out of me, most definitely."

"That's good to hear," the black man said. "I'd hate to have to shoot a friend of the famous Uchiha Sasuke. My name is Jacob Taylor, by the way." Jacob held his hand out toward Naruto, who took it. They shook hand and then Miranda shouted out for them to hurry up.

Then the red head said, "And my name is Jennifer Shepard."

"It's nice to meet you," Naruto said. He grinned, his eyes going back to normal as he released Sage Mode. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

><p><span>Notes from the Author<span>

Where to begin... this story idea came about from a plot bunny in my head that was hopping around all over the place like it was flying high as a kite. The fact that this bunny is inside an enclosed space means it's bouncing off the walls and the ceiling as well as the floor. I post this chapter as a feeler to see how well received the Naruto/Mass Effect crossover idea is. Hopefully it'll generate some traffic.

This story didn't just start here, with this chapter. I wrote a background for what happened during Mass Effect to explain what happened here (and to keep my story straight). The reason I start here, in Mass Effect 2 is because it is easier for people to relate to Naruto as a character learning about everything going on than it would be for people to relate to Sasuke, who would be the main character for Mass Effect's story. I am consciously choosing to hand-wave Sasuke's character growth from before this story's start in favor of adding it to the mystery of things Naruto has to figure out.

Why Naruto and Mass Effect? I've been itching to write a Naruto fic for a while now, but everything I came up with didn't seem to work well once I'd written some of it out. The desire to write a Mass Effect story is new, due mainly to the upcoming release of Mass Effect 3 in a months time. The two fandoms sort of melded into one when I read some of the other crossover stories out there. But those stories didn't have what I was looking for and didn't do some of the things I thought could be done. I aim to do those things in my story, one of which is Biotic based jutsu, once I figure it out. Chakra and Biotics aren't exactly made of the same stuff, though they do get certain similar results in application.

Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it, despite the length. Over eleven thousand words. Wow...


	2. Meeting an Illusive Man

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: Meeting an Illusive Man<p>

Last Time

_Naruto woke up in the Konoha hospital and quickly discovered that not all as was he assumed it to be. He found everything changed, different, and new. Tsunade was now the Konoha Representative, no one recognized him, his friends couldn't believe he was who he said he was, and Kakashi was the Hokage. And on top of that, everyone was over a decade older._

_After investigating, it was discovered that Naruto's recent memories had been erased. The only clue to where he was, what happened to him, and why he had vanished for over ten years lay in a cryptic memory message from Sasuke and a strange device that seems to have been the vehicle of Naruto's transport to the future. Following the clues, Naruto embarks on a quest to save Sakura and Sasuke so they can all go home._

* * *

><p>"I see we're picking up strays now, Jacob?" Miranda asked as she exited from a forward section of the 'carriage' when it suddenly lifted off the ground and flew out of the station. Naruto was drawn side of the vessel as he realized for the first time that it wasn't a carriage at all, but a flying vehicle. And they weren't in an underground base, but in the middle of outer space.<p>

"Wow…" Naruto said as he watched the station they'd exited from get smaller and smaller. Then something kicked from behind and the view blue shifted. "This is so awesome! I'm in space! I can't believe I'm in space! I need to know what kind of carriage this thing is, cause I want one now!"

"It's a Kodiak class shuttle," Jacob said. He frowned. "What did you think it was?"

"He doesn't know what an Omni-tool is either," Shepard said, "yet I know he was riding around inside of Sovereign when he was under the effects of Indoctrination."

"If he's from the same planet as Uchiha Sasuke was," Miranda said, "then he's no doubt from a pre-space flight civilization. It stands to reason he would find all of this fascinating." They turned to look at Naruto who was now staring out at the swirling blue shifted space outside the shuttle with wide open eyes. "But there are more important things to attend to," Miranda continued. "I need to run some final tests on you, Shepard, to make sure you're at one hundred percent."

"Really," Jacob said exasperatedly. "After all we went through you to get out of that station you want to do this now?"

"It has to be done," Miranda said matter-of-factly. "If Shepard isn't the woman she was before she died, then the project will have failed. The Illusive man wants to know either way."

"It's alright, Jacob," Shepard said. "I'll answer your questions. I at least owe you that much."

Jacob sighed and, with a shake of his head, activated and began manipulating his Omni-tool. Naruto, suddenly silent, sat on the bench next to Shepard opposite Miranda. He watched Jacob curiously as he manipulated the orange interface of the Omni-tool and then looked up.

"Alright," Jacob said, "you were born on the space cruiser Andolite. Your parents were both in the Alliance Navy. You grew up moving from ship to ship until you were old enough to enlist at eighteen."

Shepard nodded. "It wasn't the easiest of childhoods, but I got to see things no other kids got to see. Go places no other kids got to go. My parents were always busy or deployed, but I eventually understood why."

"Shortly after you enlisted, you wound up on Elysium," Jacob said. Miranda was now studying the readout of her own Omni-tool displayed over her wrist. Naruto frowned and glanced down at his right hand. He activated the Omni-tool and began to study it more in depth than he had before. "You were the only one left standing from your entire unit during the Blitz after rallying the colonists to help the defense and then single handedly holding off an assault for several hours. You were awarded the Star of Terra for your efforts."

"A lot of good men and women died that day defending the colony," Shepard said. She frowned as the memories flashed through her mind. "I'd give up that damn medal if it could bring them back. They were the real heroes."

"Of course, Commander," Jacob said. "I had a few buddies who were there. It was damn impressive."

"How about something more recent," Miranda said suddenly. "On Virmire, you decided to destroy the genophage cure and nearly got killed in the process when… erm…" Miranda glanced up at Naruto and then continued. "When Naruto, here, and Saren Arterius tried to kill you before you could escape. Only two of the Salarian STG team survived and Uchiha Sasuke nearly died."

"I…" Naruto's eyes were wide as his hands shook. "I can't… remember, but it still hurts. I…" He stopped shaking when Shepard put a hand on his shoulder.

"You weren't yourself," she said softly. "When I asked Sakura what you were really like, she described a caring, strong hearted young man who would do anything to save his friends, no matter the cost to himself. Not the egomaniacal, sadistic freak we fought on Virmire." She then turned to Miranda and said, "Captain Kirrahe and his men volunteered to remain behind to ensure the destruction of that facility at the cost of their lives. I didn't leave them lightly and I don't like their sacrifices being second guessed so lightly."

"That wasn't our intention," Jacob said. "Everyone in Cerberus knows that facility had to go. Captain Kirrahe is probably one of the few aliens spoken of well in the organization."

Miranda glanced down at her Omni-tool and frowned. "There really are more tests we should run, just to be sure."

"Come on, Miranda," Jacob said. "We've confirmed her memories are there and I can vouch for her fighting ability personally."

Miranda sighed and her Omni-tool de-activated. "Very well." Then she turned to Naruto. "Now we must deal with our little tag along."

Naruto swallowed loudly. "Uh… yes?"

"Commander, how do we even know that he is no longer Indoctrinated?" she asked. "Reports from your conversation with Vigil state that Indoctrinated sleepers were sent to Prothean colonies as refugees. Those refugees then turned and gave the colonies up to the Reapers."

"The only proof I have is a conversation I had with Sasuke after Sovereign was destroyed, before we went our separate ways," Shepard said. "He told me that he didn't kill Naruto, but set him free and sent him home. He hoped that he'd stay there, but wouldn't put it past Naruto to try and come back."

Naruto nodded and added, "He burned the indoctrination out of my mind with his Sharingan and then let me heal the damage to my brain. Then he put this device on me and sent me home." Naruto reached into his sack and pulled out the device. It no longer hummed with the potential to break the known laws of physics, laying inert in Naruto's hand.

"That's the prototype device Sakura found on Virmire," Shepard said. "I gave it to Sasuke."

"And Sasuke apparently gave it to Naruto when he confronted him inside Sovereign," Jacob said. "Seems legit enough. Is that proof enough for you, Miranda?"

"I suppose it'll have to do," she said, though she was clearly not satisfied. "The Illusive Man will have the final say in all of this anyhow."

A sudden beeping noise from the cockpit spurred Miranda into motion. She stood and entered the other compartment, the door sliding shut after she'd gone. Naruto took a deep breath as he contemplated everything he'd just learned.

He hadn't been himself and had killed a lot of innocent people before he could be saved. By Sasuke nonetheless. And now he was on a mission to save Sasuke and Sakura from the mess that he, most likely, had gotten them into. Or maybe it was Tobi that had done this. Tsunade did say it was Tobi's final attack that sent them here, even though he had no memory of ever fighting Tobi.

"Naruto," Shepard said. The sound of her voice broke him out of his brooding. "Are you going to be alright. Sasuke went through a lot of trouble to save you. If you need some time, then take it."

Naruto shook his head. "That's the thing. It's like I've finally woken up and now I have to catch up real fast or else I won't be able to help at all. I'll be fine after a bit. But tell me," he said, suddenly brightening after shifting gears, "how does this thing work?" Naruto lifted up his hand and showed Shepard and Jacob the Omni-tool on his right arm.

* * *

><p>"Shepard, the Illusive Man wishes to speak to you," Miranda said as she entered the shuttle bay waiting room. Shepard turned from the large space facing windows and nodded at the other woman. "He's down the stairs."<p>

"Thank you, Miranda," Shepard said. She nodded to Naruto, who sat on one of the benches against the wall as she left. Naruto nodded back and went back to fiddling with his Omni-tool. It was so much easier to use now, having been shown the proper way it worked. Trying to get it to work by trial and error, while interesting, was getting annoying. What was a 'BSOD Warning' anyway?

Shepard showed him how to move through the menu for the basic abilities of the device, which she said included a radio, a word processor (whatever that was), an Extra-net navigator (not sure what that was either), a simple messaging system that could be used to send voice, text, or pictures as messages to other addresses (most of that explanation when straight over his head), a flashlight, and a camera. Then there were the applications installed onto his Omni-tool that neither Shepard nor Jacob could make heads or tales of, and wouldn't activate to be studied either, couldn't be copied, and refused to be erased.

As he was going through the menus of the messaging system, he noticed that what Shepard called his 'inbox' had a number next to it. He opened the inbox and found a text message waiting for him, with Shepard's name attached to it. Curious, he opened Shepard's text and began to read it.

The question of how he could understand the text when it wasn't in his native language was explained by Miranda. All Omni-tools had translator functions to allow cross-species communication, which was dumbed down for him to 'it translates everything for you.' She also explained that also included what he was hearing as well, because they weren't speaking his native language either. Talk about a head spinner.

'_Naruto.'_ Shepard wrote, '_I don't know how to put this delicately, so I'll be blunt. You've nearly taken my head off too many times for me to trust you outright. But I trust Sasuke's word. So I'm going to give you a chance. Cerberus, on the other hand, can't be trusted. I've had too many dealings with them before where they were experimenting on innocent people and creatures for their own goals. I don't know why they spent two years and however many credits to bring me back to life, but I know that I shouldn't trust them. You shouldn't either. If you help me figure out what they're after, then I'll help you with whatever it is you came here for._'

Naruto frowned and then erased the message. It would be bad if Miranda or Jacob found that. They might throw him in prison, or worse, out into space. He didn't know what space was made up of, but he knew that there was no natural energy out there. That alone made him wary of it.

Naruto crossed his legs, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. There were too many thoughts running through his head. He needed to clear his mind so he could decide what to do next. Meditation would fix that problem.

He never thought that he'd ever get the hang of this infuriatingly boring practice. But leave it to Jiraiya to figure out a way to force him to learn. Then there was the Sage training with the toads. Now it helped him focus his thoughts like he never could before he learned how to center himself.

His mission, find Sasuke, Sakura, and bring them home to the right time. Finding Sasuke and Sakura, it seemed, would be easier if he asked Shepard to help him. She'd met and worked with both of them before, and that likely meant that she knew how to find them again, or where to start looking at the least. Plus, of the three of them, Shepard seemed the most trustworthy, though Jacob was a not too distant second. Miranda he couldn't trust as far as he could throw her, and he could probably throw her very far away.

Shepard, though, seemed to have trouble working with him. And from what she'd said about how he was acting, he didn't blame her. This Indoctrination thing that Sasuke burned out of him had made him a different person. Something evil. He was glad that Sasuke had burned it out, but that raised some other questions about why Sasuke wasn't acting like some idiot bent on revenge still. What happened during the time he couldn't remember?

Then there was Cerberus. This group seemed to have less than honorable intentions if Miranda was anything to go by. He was glad that Shepard felt the same, though he did find it kind of hard to believe that she could be mostly dead for two years. Would he help her to figure out what they were up to? Most certainly he would, but he'd have to be sneaky about it. Besides, Miranda had a stick up her ass, the kind that made his pranks more entertaining.

His meditation was broken, when Miranda sat down next to him. He cracked open one eye and saw she was leaning back in her seat with her legs crossed. His body betrayed his thoughts and was slowly drawn down to her incredible bust-line barely held in check by her skin tight armor. How something like that could be called armor was beyond him, but he'd seen ninja go into battle wearing less _and_ survive without a scratch.

"Ahem." Miranda cleared her throat. Naruto jerked and looked back up to Miranda's face. "Enjoying the view?"

"S-sorry," Naruto said. He blushed and looked off to the side as he silently cursed Jiraiya for corrupting his poor innocent mind. Stupid 'super pervert'.

"I'm not offended in the least," Miranda said, though Naruto swore he picked up on a bit of bitterness in the way she said it, as if she knew he'd react that way, was ready for it, but had never asked if she wanted the body she was given. Naruto assumed that's how most beautiful women felt when they were oggled. "I was instructed to make you an offer, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto frowned and faced Miranda again. "Come again?"

"The Illusive Man was very intrigued by your return to our dimension," Miranda said. "He believes that whatever Uchiha Sasuke did was thorough enough to warrant a modicum of trust, and as such, wants to offer you a place in a upcoming mission. No doubt, your skills as a Shinobi will come in quite useful."

Naruto regarded Miranda for a moment with a hesitant stare. He glanced off to the side at Jacob, who had remained standing on the other side of the shuttle bay's waiting room since arriving, and noted that he was just as surprised to be hearing this. Naruto focused on Miranda again and tried to gauge how truthful she was being. This wouldn't be the first time someone tried to get one over on him, and having read Shepard's message, this 'offer' made his bullshit senses tingle.

"I… have my own mission that I need to accomplish," Naruto said after detecting no deceit in the way she presented herself. Despite that, the mistrust she was regarding him with clearly said she didn't agree with this "Illusive Man's" decision, but was following orders. So the one called Illusive Man pulled the strings in Cerberus. Hmm… Plan A: Play dumb. "I have to find Sakura and Sasuke and then bring them home."

"Of course," Miranda replied smoothly. "The Illusive Man anticipated your goals and has pledged that in exchange for your assistance, Cerberus will aid you in your search for your companions and how to return you all home."

Naruto silently thought about the offer. It was true that he hadn't a clue as to where to start, how to act in any society he found, and plus, he was in space! Freaking Space! He didn't know the first thing about space travel or how expensive it would be to book transportation to start looking on his own. And how many planets was he expected to look on for his friends?

But Shepard had already offered essentially the same thing. Cerberus' offer seemed just a little too convenient, but utterly legit at the same time. On top of that, Miranda was sincere, but she didn't trust him. He could trust Shepard well enough, and maybe Jacob, but Miranda? He really did not trust the woman to not shoot him. And the more he thought about it, the more this deal sounded like Orochimaru offering him 'power beyond his wildest dreams'. He'd seen what that did to Sasuke.

"Well?" Miranda asked. "What's your answer?"

"I could use the help finding my friends," Naruto conceded, "but how do I know that I can trust you? You wanted to shoot me."

"In my line of work, it's better to shoot first and ask questions second," Miranda said without batting an eye. Naruto worked in a similar environment. It didn't make trusting her any easier. "And I'd probably still shoot you. I'll be honest, I don't trust you to have Cerberus' interests at heart. Shepard either. But I work for the Illusive Man and he wants Shepard, and now you, on the team. If he wants it, I don't have any say in matter." Miranda then leaned in close and said, "It is a very good opportunity."

"If I agreed, what would I be doing?" Naruto asked after silently contemplating everything Miranda and this "Illusive Man" had offered. If nothing else, they were offering him an opportunity to investigate their motivation, which would help him and Shepard in the long run. "What's this mission I'd be part of?"

"The Illusive Man just briefed me on the next mission," Miranda said. She stood and motioned toward Jacob.

"So another colony has gone missing?" he asked as he crossed the room.

"Yes," Miranda said. "Freedom's Progress. As soon as the Illusive Man is finished talking with Shepard, we're going to leave." She turned to Naruto and added, "Consider it a test run to see if you can trust Cerberus."

"Yeah, okay, fine," Naruto said. Plan A: 'play dumb', success. "What's the wrong with the colony? Why is it missing? Did you lose it in space or something?"

Miranda snorted lightly and walked away. Jacob rolled his eyes. "It's not what you think," he said. "Over the past year and a half, someone has been abducting human colonists in the Terminus Systems. All the colonists to the man, woman, and child have just up and vanished without a trace."

"And no one is doing anything about it until now?" Naruto asked. "Back home, if one of our allied villages was under attack, it would take less than a day to dispatch a team of Ninja to help after finding out."

"No one is doing anything about it because they're small colonies out in the middle of the lawless regions," Jacob explained. "It could be anything from pirates or slavers, but we think it's something much bigger. Until now, we've yet to find any substantive proof of who's doing it, but maybe we'll get lucky this time."

"Hmm… I guess I could help you guys out," Naruto said. He crossed his arms and nodded his head. "So we go in, rescue the colonist, and find out who's taking them so we can track them back to their base. Then we go in, kick their ass, rescue the hostages, and otherwise save the day. Sounds easy enough."

"If things have progressed at Freedom's Progress as they have at the other colonies, then there won't be anyone to save," Miranda said. "We'll just be looking for clues as to who is doing this. The rest of your plan sounds adequate enough, despite how simply you put it."

"Ehh… I don't do big, complicated stuff," Naruto said. He grunted as his head started hurting even thinking about it. "I leave that stuff to Shikamaru. He's the one with all the crazy plans inside of plans, wrapped in a plan, covered in plan wrapping paper."

"I hear that," Jacob said. "Something simple that gets the job done. In and out, bad guys dead, day saved." Naruto nodded as he grinned.

* * *

><p>Though the holographic interface was more advanced than what Shepard had ever interacted with before, it was obvious that she was suppose to stand on the large circular pad. As the interface activated and a glowing orange holographic tube rose up, she quietly wondered if her feelings of trepidation were similar to what an slave felt when being stuck into a cage. Once the lip of the tube passed her head, the room around her vanished and was replaced by a much darker one.<p>

The new room was larger, with an exceptionally large window on the far side. Through the window she could see the roiling, raging surface of a star. It was likely a magnification of the star from far away, because if the room she was seeing actually was that close to a star, the occupants would all be quite dead. The main attraction of the room, however, was not the giant star outside the window, but the man who sat in the deep shadows.

She studied him for a few moments in silence as he studied her. His eyes, which glowed blue from what appeared to be cybernetic eyeballs, flicked up and down her image. Her own eyes took in his silver hair and the cigar he was sucking on.

"Commander Shepard," the man said after he finished with the cigar. "It's nice to finally meet you, face to face."

"Illusive Man," Shepard said. "I know it was you who brought me back from the dead. I'd like to know why?"

"I see," the Illusive Man said. "Good. That saves me from having to make introductions." He took another puff of his cigar. "I believe you already know why I brought you back."

Shepard narrowed her eyes. "You mean the Reapers." She shook her head. "For the amount of money it took to bring me back you could have trained a small army. Why me?"

"No one wants to admit it, but we are at war." The Illusive Man stood from his chair and stepped from the shadows, revealing his suit and well cropped features. "The Council and the Alliance were quick to label your claims about Reapers as unsubstantiated rumors, that Sovereign was Geth built dreadnaught, but we know better. I brought you back, Shepard, because you're more than a soldier with experience. You're a icon. A symbol. You stood for humanity when no one else could." The Illusive Man took another puff of his cigar and then sat back down, tapping the ashes into a tray on one of the arms of the chair. "I don't know if the Reapers can feel fear, but you killed one of them. That has to mean something."

"So, what?" Shepard asked. "Do you want me to fall in line and do as Cerberus says because you want to save the galaxy?" She shook her head and crossed her arms. "Last time I checked, you were running sick experiments on the Rachni, Thorian, and other humans. If this little speech is supposed to convince me to work for you, then you can forget it."

"I only want what's best for humanity, Shepard," the Illusive man said, his cigar glowing brighter momentarily as he took another puff. "I make no excuses for the work I've done in defense of our species. But that's not what I brought you back for. Human colonies in the Terminus Systems are being attacked, every single colonist abducted. The Citadel Council has no jurisdiction and blames humanity for tempting fate by settling there in the first place. The Alliance is spread too thin patrolling the Traverse to mount a proper defense of our colonies after you ordered the Destiny Ascension saved during the Battle of the Citadel."

"How _do_ you know it isn't pirates or slavers?" Shepard asked skeptically. "It _is_ the Terminus Systems."

"I have my suspicions, but I can't say for sure," the Illusive Man said. "It's related to the Reapers in some way. Call it a gut feeling. Having disavowed you and your claims, the Citadel and the Alliance have no interest in following up on the Reaper threat. Cerberus is the only organization with the will and position to do something about it. I'm sending you to Freedom's Progress. It's the latest colony to be hit. Try to find out who is taking our people."

"Is this a volunteer job or am I being volunteered?"

"If you can't find anything that satisfies our concerns on Freedom's Progress, then we can go our separate ways," the Illusive Man said. "But first, go to Freedom's Progress. Find out who is taking our colonists. I brought you back, Shepard. It's up to you to do the rest." The Illusive Man then lifted his hand and hit a button on his private console. The image of the room faded as the holographic tube powered down.

Shepard shook her head. "So much for resting in peace."

* * *

><p>Naruto rolled his shoulders as he got a feel for the armor that Miranda insisted he get fitted for. He didn't anticipate the plated material to be so easy to move in, rather expecting it to be all stiff and restricting. He wasn't big on changing his outfit, because he rather liked his orange and black jacket. However, he quickly warmed to the benefits of what they called a kinetic barrier, which was built into the armor.<p>

Kinetic barriers stopped bullets until the shield buffer depleted, his ninja armor didn't. Kinetic barriers could repair and recharge during battle from the movements of his body, his ninja armor was broken until he found time to repair it. As an added bonus, he got to paint the armor orange with black stripes, similar to his jacket's design. It wasn't the best looking outfit he'd ever chosen to wear, but it was better than that one piece green monstrosity Gai and Rock Lee wore.

Shepard noted to Miranda, while he was pulling the last pieces of armor on, that Sasuke and Sakura both fought with hand to hand or short range weapons. Sasuke used his sword almost exclusively, with some jutsu thrown in here and there. Sakura her fists, which did more damage than one would expect, and small knives.

"Kunai," Naruto said. He pulled one out of the leg pocket the armor had, conveniently, right where he strapped his kunai pouch normally. "They're called kunai. And Sakura can use more than her fists, I've seen her split boulders with her feet. And her teacher could do the same things with one finger."

Shepard regarded Naruto with a bit of skepticism after he said that. But after thinking about it, she nodded as if the idea at least sounded plausible. Miranda on the other hand looked at him like he'd grown another head. She didn't believe it! Naruto wasn't really paying attention to their reactions, though, because he was too busy getting used to the armor and grumbling about being flicked in the forehead by old hags.

"Naruto." Once Shepard had his attention, she said, "I just want to be sure, but are you, too, having trouble using your jutsu?"

Naruto frowned at the question. Then he shrugged and crossed his fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five copies of Naruto popped into existence all around him. His brow wrinkled as he studied them and then nodded. The five clones then saluted and vanished in puffs of smoke.

"Nope," he said. "Everything is working right. Why? They way you asked made it sound like Sasuke or Sakura couldn't use jutsu."

"Well… If you're not having any trouble then it probably isn't something to worry about," Shepard said. "I'll tell you more later."

Naruto shrugged and, satisfied with his new armor, left the Cerberus armory and headed for the shuttle bay. As Naruto followed Shepard into the shuttle to leave the station, he found the butt of the same kind of gun Miranda had tried to shoot him with, shoved into his face. "Take this," she said.

"I don't even know how to use it," Naruto said as the hand gun was pushed into his hands. "Besides, I'd rather just run up and punch the person we're fighting. Or I could throw a Kunai."

"It's better to have a gun and not need it than to need one and not have it available," Jacob said as he got into the shuttle and closed the hatch. Moments later, the shuttle lifted off and exited the space station. After far enough away, the shuttle accelerated past the speed of light via mass effect toward the colony of Freedom's Progress.

Naruto frowned as he looked over the weapon in his hands. It really wasn't that hard to figure out, now that he was looking at it. From the way Miranda held it when she tried to shoot him, he reasoned that the small little lever was what activated it. And then the bullet came out the small hole on the other end. Made sense.

"How do you get it to stick to the side of your leg," he asked. His enthusiasm caused him to quickly start pushing it against the side of his leg and watching it fall to the floor of the shuttle. He did this in over four times in quick succession until Jacob grabbed the gun.

"Like this," he said. He held the gun to the side of Naruto's leg, just above a strip of glowing blue lights, and then let it go. The gun proceeded to not fall and sort of just floated there, as if it had been nailed down.

"So cool!" Naruto shouted. He pulled the gun off his leg so he could attach it again. He did this several more times until Shepard put a hand on his shoulder.

"I realize this is the first time you've seen this, but do you think you could focus right now?" she asked. "There will be time later for you to explore all of this. But right now we need to focus on figuring out what happened to the colony."

"Right," Naruto said. He reluctantly put the hand gun back on his leg holster and straightened up for what was apparently a pre-mission briefing, if he read the tone of Shepard's voice right. "Okay, what's going to happen once we get there?"

"Shepard," Miranda said, "the Illusive Man has placed me and Jacob at your command. I assume that Naruto will follow your orders as well." The brunet glanced at Naruto for confirmation.

"You know more about what's going on than I do," he said. He figured Shepard probably had a plan already. "So I'll just follow your lead."

Shepard nodded. "First, I want to know why no one has figured out who's abducting these colonists yet," she said. "I realize that the Alliance isn't able to be there to stop the abduction, but they must have investigated."

"The reports from the different investigations have revealed that nothing remained of the colonists," Miranda said as she activated her Omni-tool. She read some lines of text before she turned it off. "All of their belongings were still there, untouched. It was almost like the colonists all go up and left without a second thought."

"Other times, looters or scavengers got to the colonies before anyone could investigate," Jacob added. "That's what led to the belief that it's pirates or slavers. This is the first time a Cerberus team will have gotten to one of the effected colonies first."

"Alright," Shepard said with a nod. "Then our first priority is to find and rescue any survivors."

"It is unlikely that there will be any," Miranda said. "All the other colonies were completely abandoned."

"Just keep a look out anyway," Shepard said.

"Very well, Commander," Miranda said with a nod.

"Naruto," Shepard said. She turned to the now visibly excited and attentive young man. "I know you're a ninja and you have combat experience, but I don't want to bring you with me this time." She was slightly shocked how fast Naruto went from super excited to deeply crestfallen. But then she noticed that he hadn't looked away from her, that his eyes still held something like a grin reflected in them. He was acting… and pretty good too. "Instead, I want you to send out those clones you can make to cover the rest of the colony we three can't investigate on our own," she said without missing a beat. "Is that acceptable."

Naruto thought over this for a few seconds and then nodded. All despondency had vanished as fast as it had fallen over him. Shepard began to wonder how he maintained this level of energy all the time. It was like he was a five year old on a constant sugar high, with no sugar low expected to set in. Ever. But then she remembered that he was a ninja. Ninja were odd like that, though Naruto seemed to put Sasuke and Sakura's acting to shame.

"Will do!" Naruto said and gave Shepard a thumb's up. "I'll find out who's taking these people, just leave it to me."

Jacob snorted. "Leave some for us, will ya?"

"We're here," Miranda announced as the blue shifted space around them pulled back to normal black space. The field of stars outside the shuttle's window became filled with a planet. Naruto watched, slack jawed, as they approached the planet for a landing.

"Amazing view, isn't it?" Shepard asked.

"I wonder what my world looks like from space," Naruto mused. "I bet it looks awesome!"

"I never get tired of looking at planets from this high up," Jacob said. "Especially Earth."

"We'd better find out who is abducting all these humans," Miranda said, "or there might not be an Earth left to look at."

* * *

><p><span>Notes from the Author<span>

Wow, I am shocked by the reaction to just one chapter. I've never had a story get six reviews on the first chapter within twenty-four hours, let alone all those faves, hits, and alerts. Thank you everyone.

I apologize for the length of the first chapter. It was mostly exposition that absolutely had to be in there for anything to make sense. Obviously, I'm not opposed to writing and posting long chapters, but my usual length and range mark is around five thousand or less, not the eleven thousand beast from chapter one. I do hope that no one was turned off by the length.

In this chapter Naruto uncovers some of his past through inferences made by other characters. Shepard, obviously, has had the most exposure to ninja out of everyone. The Illusive Man, too, seems to have designs on Naruto, though what they are will remain elusive (haha, bad pun alert). I hope I got the characterization right, and the dialog too. I was doing most of those scenes from memory while trying to add my own writing flavor.

Bahumat knight asked about pairings. Both Mass Effect and Naruto are rife with pairings, and consequently, make it easy to mesh those two parts of the different stories. As far as this story is concerned, I do have a pairing planned for Naruto and Shepard, but not those two together. I'll keep what my plans are in regard to his topic under wraps for now though.

Marvey4 asked about Sasuke's story. That part of the story which covers Mass Effect 1 is, as I noted in the last chapter, worked out so I can keep my facts straight. The things that happened in that "story" will have an effect on this story, just like when you carry over a Game Save from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2. As for whether I'll put Sasuke's story in this one or write a separate fic altogether, I haven't decide though I'm leaning toward giving the story its own fic. On one side, including it in this fic will cut down on the amount of writing I'll need to do because it'll all just be one big story. Perhaps too big. But if I go that route, the background story will either take the form of flashbacks, that I'd rather stay away from, or characters just summing up what happened in their own words, which really isn't doing justice to the story like giving it its own fic would. For example, would telling you, the readers, that Sasuke changed from who he was to (spoilers) in this story be more satisfying, or would you rather watch as Sasuke slowly transforms from his emo-ass-self to (spoilers).

drgonmaster37206, thank you for adding this story to your community.

Thank you for reading. Hope you liked chapter 2.

**Addendum: Revised this chapter and added some new parts before I reposted it.**


	3. Mystery of Freedom's Progress

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Mystery of Freedom's Progress<p>

Last Time

_Naruto met Jennifer Shepard, Miranda Lawson, and Jacob Taylor. After nearly being shot by Miranda, Naruto is questioned by Shepard. She determines that Naruto is no longer Indoctrinated and decides to bring him with her. Miranda is less than pleased. On the trip to another space station, Naruto discovers that he really is in space and learns a little of what happened during his memory lapse. He had killed innocent people and Sasuke was the one who stopped him._

_Swearing to make it better somehow, Naruto is approached with a job offer from the Illusive Man. In exchange for help finding Sasuke and Sakura, he agrees to help investigate the abduction of a human colony, Freedom's Progress, as a test of Cerberus' trustworthiness. Shepard, though, doesn't trust Cerberus at all and wants Naruto to help her determine if the enigmatic pro-human splinter group are on the up and up. After a short pre-mission brief, the team arrives at Freedom's Progress._

* * *

><p>Naruto marveled at the snow falling all around them. Having just exited the shuttle first, he was waiting for the others to join him. So he took the time to enjoy the scenery and study the buildings. He'd never seen homes like this before.<p>

Despite the lack of people here, this colony didn't seem to have much life in it to begin with. Where were the posters? The food vendors? The annoying signs advertising things you didn't need?

"Alright," Shepard said. She indicated what Naruto recognized as a door knob-button, having seen them on the space station a little over an hour before. "Miranda and Jacob will follow me that way. Naruto, while your clones are scoping out the perimeter, I want you to get some target practice in here."

Naruto nodded and brought his hands together. "Will do. Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A loud chorus of explosions and small pops filled the landing pad as two dozen Naruto clones came into being. "You guy's know what to do," Naruto said to the clones, "get to it!"

"Right boss!" several of the clones saluted and vaulted in either direction. Seconds later, just the original Naruto was left. Shepard nodded and motioned toward Miranda and Jacob to follow her as she entered the colony.

Naruto pulled the gun off his hip and pointed it at the wall. He slowly squeezed the trigger and jerked back when the gun went off. He instinctively ducked when he heard the bullet hit the wall. When he was sure that the bullet wasn't going to come back, Naruto stood and looked at the gun then off in the direction Shepard went.

"Oh… I get it," he said. He smacked himself in the head. He jumped onto the roof of the building and began running. "She wanted me to follow them. I am such an idiot."

* * *

><p>Shepard let out a sigh of relief when the final mech exploded in a shower of sparks. She'd used up over half of her thermal clip supply, despite having conserved her ammo and ordering Jacob and Miranda to use their biotics. None of them expected to be ambushed by over twenty LOKI mechs at once, and it certainly helped that at any one time over half of them were floating above her head.<p>

"Someone must have reprogrammed the mechs to shoot anything that enters the pre-programmed territory," Miranda said as she walked up to one of the defunct mechs and kicked it's head. The human sized metal head skid across the flooring until it fell from the walkway to the quarry lake below.

"I guess this means that there _are_ survivors," Jacob said.

"We won't know until we find them," Shepard said. "Let's keep moving."

Shepard moved to the nearest house door and palmed the access panel. As the door whirred open, her eyes widened as five pairs of guns were pointed in her direction before she could raise her sniper rifle. Behind her, Jacob and Miranda did raise and aim their hand guns at the group of, easily recognizable, Quarians in front of them.

"Stay back," one of the Quarian men shouted. "Don't move, Cerberus scum."

"Wait," shouted another Quarian, female, as she moved between the two groups with her hands up. "Stop. We don't need to start another fire… fight… Shepard?"

Shepard's eyes narrowed as she studied the Quarian in front of her. The voice was… bolder, but the envirosuit was different, taller. "Is that you, Tali?"

"I don't trust Cerberus Operatives," the male Quarian said as he attempted to push Tali to the side. Tali turned and gave what must have been the Quarian equivalent to a glare.

"Put your weapons down," Tali ordered. Not said. Not asked. For a moment, Shepard wondered where the sweet and timid Tali'Zora went. Not that she was complaining if it got her out of a fire fight with people she didn't have any beef with.

Tali turned back to Shepard and asked, "Shepard, is that really you?"

"Yes," Shepard said. "It's me."

"But… How?" Tali sputtered. "You were dead!"

"Tali'Zora," the male Quarian said, "Why is your old commander working for Cerberus?"

"Cerberus spent two years putting me back together," Shepard said. "But that doesn't mean I'm 'with' them. They asked me to look into all the colonists that are going missing, which is what brought me here. Why are you here?"

"What we are doing here is none of Cerberus' business!" the male Quarian snapped.

Shepard arched her eye brow at the outburst. "I get the feeling your people don't like Cerberus much. I can understand the notion, but this feels more personal than just a general dislike."

"Cerberus operatives infiltrated the Migrant Fleet, kills some of our people, and tried to blow up one of our ships," the male Quarian said.

"That's not exactly how I would have put it, Commander," Miranda said.

"_We _are here," Tali said, drawing attention back to herself, "because a Quarian named Veetor was here on his pilgrimage. When we heard this colony had been hit, we came here to find out what happened to him. As we were landing, we saw him running to hide on the far side of the base. He's reprogrammed the mechs around the base to fire on anything that isn't him. We are afraid he's not well."

"What? Is he sick or something?" Shepard asked.

"She means, he's unstable," the male Quarian said. "Combine that with bad CO2 scrubbers and an infection and he's likely delirious."

"That explains the mechs," Jacob said.

"Veetor might know what happened to the colonists, Shepard," Miranda said. "We need to find out if he has any information."

Shepard nodded. "We should work together to find Veetor," she said to Tali.

"I was going to suggest the same thing," she replied. "We'll need two teams to get past the next blockade of mechs anyway."

"We're working for Cerberus now!" the male Quarian exploded.

"No, Prazza," Tali snapped back. "You're working for me! If you can't handle this, go wait on the ship." Prazza ducked his head like a whipped puppy and moved to the back of the room. Tali turned back to Shepard and said, "From here to where Veetor is are two paths. Take your group down the west path. We'll head down the east and draw off the mechs' fire. If you come in from the other side, we can catch the mechs in the cross fire."

"Alright," Shepard said with a nod. "We'll be there. Let's move."

* * *

><p>Finding Shepard and the rest of the team wasn't spectacularly hard for Naruto. He just followed the carnage. He idly wondered, as he followed the trail of mechanical parts strewn along the path, if this was how his friends found him when he was off battling some big bad in the middle of no where. Did he really leave this much of an obvious trail?<p>

He paused his search for Shepard and entered a home. He could probably cross the entire colony in a few minutes if he really booked it, so he wasn't worried about not catching up to Shepard in time to help. She had asked him to help her figure out if Cerberus could be trusted or not, and that was what he intended to do.

The most obvious way to tell if Cerberus was actually telling the truth was to look at the colony itself. It would be hard, but not impossible, to build a fake colony to look convincing enough for himself and Shepard. But the more he saw, the less he thought that was what he was seeing.

He'd already gotten memories from several of the clones he'd sent out. They'd gotten a look at some of the more outlying homes, farms, and surrounding landscape. There were some large animals out in the fields a couple miles from here that were frozen in some kind of energy field, but aside from that, nothing spectacularly interesting aside from some knocked over chairs and a fridge left hanging open.

Aside from the difficulty of making a fake colony of this scope and detail, there was also the really creepy way that the homes just felt… empty. The home he was standing in now, for example, was rather small but was obviously well lived in. A picture on the wall told him a family of three lived here, two parents and a small girl.

Naruto walked about the living area, feeling like he'd invaded someone's private space, as if he really shouldn't be in there, poking about because the owners would come through the door any second and chase him out. He picked up a small blond haired doll. For a reason that he couldn't quite understand, the fact that the doll was still warm, as if it had been held lovingly in the arms of the little girl just seconds ago, disturbed him to his core. He quickly looked to the table next to the small kitchenette and found three plates, half eaten, still warm with small wisps of steam rising from the meat.

"They were still here just a few moments ago," Naruto said aloud without realizing it. He shook his head. This wasn't right. This little girl should still be here to hold her doll. Her parents should be smiling at her. They should all be eating. But they weren't. No one was. This whole colony was gone. Not the buildings, but the people. Just, gone. It was probably safe to conclude that if Cerberus is behind this, then they were monsters of a type that deserved no pity from him.

"No," he said. He looked down at the doll and a resolute expression came over his face. His back straightened and he nodded to the doll. "I'll find your owner," he said to the doll, which only smiled back up at him like all small children's toys did. "I'll find her, and her family, and her friends, and I'll bring them home! I swear it!"

-Krrsssshhhhh- "_Naruto, come in!_"

Startled, Naruto nearly dropped the doll. Once he had it back in hand, he tucked it into his armor and turned. He activated his Omni-tool and turned on the radio as he left the house.

"Yeah," he said into the radio, "I'm here. Did you need something?"

"_We're pinned down!_" Shepard shouted. He could hear gunfire going off like nuts in the background. "_How fast do you think you could get here?"_

"Hang on!" Naruto shouted. "I'm on my way!"

"_Please hurry,_" Shepard added before the connection was shut.

* * *

><p>"Do you think he'll make it in time?" Jacob asked just before he leaned out of cover and squeezed off three shots with his hand gun. Across the clearing, the Quarians were also firing into the veritable army of mechs, all of them reprogrammed to kill indiscriminately. Before Jacob pulled back behind the chest high wall, his arm glowed a deep violet and one of the mechs let out a garbled wail as it lifted into the air.<p>

"He's probably got some super ninja speed or something," Shepard said as she leaned out from cover, lined up her sniper rifle, and blew the head clean off another of the mechs, which then proceeded to explode in a shower of sparks and electricity. "He'll be here," she added.

"It won't matter-" Miranda paused as she leaned out, her entire body covered in a violet aura as she unleashed a wave of Biotic power at the army of mechs. The wave pushed back a large group of mechs back and knocked them onto the ground, but did little damage. "-much if we don't get to Veetor first." Miranda leaned out and popped off several shots with her hand gun then pulled back behind cover. "I'm sorry, Shepard, but your friend seems to be the only Quarian who hasn't tried to stab us in the back. The rest have already betrayed us once tonight."

Shepard leaned out and scoped out the army coming toward her position. Before she pulled back, she loosed a bolt of fire and another mech's head exploded, followed by the rest of it. "There's no way we can get through that many mechs," she said. "And if we can't get through, neither can the Quarians."

"I doubt Tali would have let the rest of her team take Veetor away without giving us something to work with," Jacob said after pulling back. He popped his full thermal clip from his hand gun and reached for the next. He grunted when he came up empty. "I'm out of thermal clips."

"I'm running low too," Miranda said. "I'm sure the Quarians are as well."

"Switch to biotic," Shepard ordered. "We'll just have to hold out until Naruto can over power this damn army with his own."

Miranda leaned out and with a swish of her hand, caused three of the mechs to go flying into the air. The Quarians across the way immediately set upon the flying mechs with a hail of sub-machine gunfire. "Depending on the one person who can't shoot a gun straight to save us," Miranda said. "I hope you can see the irony of the situation."

"Yeah, I-" Jacob paused when he noticed that the mechs had stopped shooting at them. The reports of gunfire increased yet it was no longer directed at Shepard and her team. Jacob sighed, relieved. "Let's hope he's all he's cracked up to be."

Shepard leaned out from cover and watched as a blond and orange blur landed directly in the middle of a group of ten mechs. Before the mechs could bring their semi-automatic hand guns to bear, something sent all ten mechs' arms and legs flying. And then the blur dashed forward, toward the rest of the mech army.

Naruto slide to a stop with his fist already out in front of him. He punched one of the mech's heads and sent it flying, and used his momentum and the now defunct mech's body as a fulcrum, to swing a high powered round house kick at all the other mechs around him. The mechs that Naruto kicked went flying, pieces of their bodies flying apart as they went. Naruto then swung his body around the first mech he had grabbed so that he was standing on it vertically, and then jumped into the next group of mechs.

The mech he jumped from was, following the Newtons first law of physics, launched back with just as much force as Naruto was launched forward. This mech body smashed into a group of three canine like FENRIS mechs. All of the mechs involved in that collision were damaged beyond operational level from the impact and proceeded to explode.

Before the next batch of LOKI mechs could react, pieces of them started to fly up into the air. Naruto was a blur as he kicked, punched, and body slammed the mechanical army faster than they could react to his movements. Then the hail of gunfire, missiles, and electrical surges began.

Naruto didn't realize it, but all of the mechs had by now turned their attention to him. As he moved through the ranks of the mech army, they began to try and shoot him. The only problem for the mechs was that Naruto was always one or two steps ahead of where they fired. The shots, all of which missed Naruto, found homes in other mechs, or the remains of mechs, that Naruto had left in his wake.

Within the span of one minute, twenty seconds, and fifty-five milliseconds, the army of LOKI and FENRIS mechs was a smoldering pile of molten slag, pieces of destroyed hardware, and utterly destroyed circuit boards. Naruto stood amid the carnage, breathing heavily. He looked down at his hands, and then the rest of his body, and realized for the first time that he wasn't even scratched. "Wow," he said to himself, "that was… that was…"

"HALT!" roared the deep, base, mechanical voice of a large mech that stepped into view. Naruto's eyes widened as he stared up at the huge mech taking heavy, thundering steps toward him. Naruto watched it level its left arm at him and then mechanically pull back the armor on that arm to reveal the very large barrel of a .50 caliber machine gun.

"Oh crap," Naruto breathed. Then the YMIR mech machine gun started shooting.

"Naruto!" Shepard shouted as she lifted her sniper rifle and quickly sighted the YMIR mech's machine gun. She shot it, grimaced when her gun reported that her last thermal clip was now full, and then grinned when she saw the firing of the mech's machine gun go wide. Naruto watched the mech's fire off to his side, the near constant stream of really _big_ bullets gouging deep into the stone ground and sending chunks of said stone ground several feet into the air.

"YOU WILL BE ELIMINATED!" The mech said in its halting mechanical voice. It's machine gun halting fire. It twisted its mid-section slightly so that it's right arm was now pointed at him. This arm's armor pulled back to reveal an even larger barrel, now pointed straight at Naruto.

"Not this time, ugly," Naruto snarled. He dashed to the right just in time to avoid the a rocket to the face. The rocket continued past Naruto and exploded on the wall of one of the homes behind him. Naruto continued running as the YMIR shot more missiles at him.

Naruto then hooked a sharp left and made for the mech as fast as he could. The YMIR turned its body a little and opened fire on Naruto with its machine gun again. Naruto jumped just before the line of bullets tearing up the ground got to him and sailed right over the YMIR's head.

With heavy, heaving steps, the YMIR turned its great hulk around on the spot. When it finally was facing Naruto again, it found two of him. Then it got a swirling mass of blue energy to its face as Naruto shouted out "Rasengan!"

The rasengan quickly ate through the mechs' kinetic barriers, then its armor, and then its head, and then down into its body. Naruto quickly pulled his hand out of the YMIR's body and leaped off of it. The YMIR's body slumped to the ground on its "knees" and began to emit a red light. The red light grew brighter and brighter as a mechanical whine filled the air, indicating that its internal fusion reactor was approaching critical mass.

Naruto landed several dozen feet away just as the mech exploded in a huge wave of light, energy, and a mushroom cloud. The explosion was so large and powerful that the mech storage building that the YMIR had just emerged from, was utterly obliterated, as well as half the building behind it. Naruto slowly stood from the crouch he landed in and turned to face the devastation he'd caused with wide open eyes.

"Holy shit!" he shouted into the noise of the roaring explosion.

Jacob turned to Miranda and said, "I don't think anyone will believe us when we tell them what we just saw."

Miranda shook her head slightly, an incredulous look on her face. "I just saw it, and I don't believe it," she said. "I always through that the reports of Sasuke and Sakura fighting on the mission against Saren were exaggerated."

Shepard smirked and emerged from the cover she was hiding behind. She noted the deep pockmarks on the other side of the wall she and her team were hiding behind as she strode toward Naruto. The blond still stood amid the ruins of destruction as he watched the last of the explosion's mushroom cloud rise in slack jawed awe.

"Shepard," Tali shouted as she appeared next to her and pulled her to a stop. "Stay back. I don't know what this one wants, but it can't be good. We're out of thermal clips, but one of Prazza's men is rigging up a missile to shoot it with."

Naruto turned to Shepard and Tali, Miranda and Jacob coming up behind them. "Did you see that?" he shouted and pointed behind him. "That was awesome! I can't believe how awesome that was! When Sakura find out about this she'll flip!" Naruto paused as he considered just what he'd said. "On second thought, it's probably better if she didn't find out."

"Naruto," Shepard said. "Thank you for coming so quickly. We underestimated how many mechs were here and might have died if you didn't get here when you did."

Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head. "The hero always appears at the last moment to save the day," he said.

"Shepard?" Tali questioned incredulously. "You do know what that is, right? You couldn't have forgotten how he nearly killed, three different times!"

"Relax Tali," Shepard said as she placed a hand on Tali. Naruto's grin slowly fell as he realized what Tali was talking about. "He's… better now."

"No," she said. She shook her head and backed away. "No, I can't believe that. He nearly killed me too, if you don't recall. I don't know what Cerberus did you to, but it must be some kind of control chip or something to get you to work with that monster."

"That monster just saved our lives," Miranda pointed out, the innocent lilt of her voice making the stab all the more potent. "Besides, Cerberus didn't bring him back. He came of his own accord, to find his friends."

"Tali," Shepard said. She pointed at Naruto, who had turned around and was once again inspecting the damage. None of them could see his face, so naturally Shepard suspected he had turned away for that reason. "I didn't trust him at first either. But he's proved the truth of Sasuke's message."

"Sasuke," Tali said as her head reared back from the sudden shift of topic. "What does he have to do with Sasuke? And besides that, how did that thing," at which point everyone noticed Naruto cringe, "prove anything to you. He was Indoctrinated, remember? That can't be undone once it's set in."

"I didn't think so either," Miranda said. "However, when we were fitting him for armor, I had some scans taken of his brain." She activated her Omni-tool and sent typed a few commands in. Tali's Omni-tool beeped and she quickly inspected the files that she'd received. "He displays none of the altered brain patterns associated with Indoctrination. He does, however, show signs of healed brain damage. If such a thing is possible, he has scars on his brain from where the Indoctrination was possibly removed. It's hard to tell, but he I can say for sure that he is not currently under Indoctrination."

Tali inspected the data file a few more seconds before she closed her Omni-tool. "I still don't trust him," she said. Then she looked at Shepard. "Why do you? What did Sasuke tell you?"

"That when he fought Naruto, he didn't kill him and instead saved him and sent him home," Shepard said. "I'd assumed that meant he'd killed him or something and he didn't want to talk about it at the time. But I had to re-consider my assumptions when Naruto appeared again a short while ago. A lot of that conversation didn't make sense until a now."

"The prototype," Tali said as understanding dawned on her. "Yes, that does make sense now. Sakura was a little shocked when Sasuke said he had lost it after Sovereign."

"You know Sakura and Sasuke too?" Tali turned to Naruto, who immediately cringed under her scrutiny. Her posture softened after a moment of looking at him.

"Yes," she said and then hesitantly added, "you must understand, the last time we met, you were trying to kill me. I'm… still not sure I can trust you."

Naruto grinned and nodded. The grin startled Tali at how much like a mask it appeared. "That's okay, I understand," he said. "I wasn't myself before. But I'm okay now."

"Yes…" Tali said. Then she faced Shepard and said, "Veetor should be in the bunker just beyond the burning building over there. I'll give you a few minutes to find what you need so I can deal with our injuries."

"Thanks Tali," Shepard said. She motioned toward Miranda and Jacob, who both fell in behind her as she walked away. Naruto and Tali stayed where they were standing.

Just as Tali turned to walk away, she heard Naruto say "I'm sorry." She stopped and looked behind her, but Naruto was already running to catch up with Shepard.

"Keelah," she muttered under her breath.

* * *

><p>Shepard scanned the remains of a downed YMIR sitting next to the building that Tali had pointed them toward. The scans didn't come up with much, but she figured anything could help when trying to come up with new tech. Plus, she noted, the armor used on the mech hadn't been encountered by her personal database.<p>

"That was some exceptional work, Naruto," Miranda said. "I apologize for doubting your abilities."

"Heh, it was nothing," Naruto said, waving her off. Miranda shrugged and walked away. "Err… no, wait, it wasn't nothing," Naruto said quickly. Jacob chuckled as they entered the building where Veetor was supposed to be. "Hey! Wait up! I nearly died!"

"You don't appear to be injured," Miranda said. "And you passed it off as 'nothing'. I assumed you were being honest."

"Well… yeah, I was," Naruto said, then quickly added, "but I still nearly died. It's not like I do that sort of thing all the time."

"Duly noted," Miranda said.

"So this is Veetor?" Jacob asked. Everyone now stood inside the building, what was clearly once a security station, that currently contained food supply boxes stacked to the ceiling, wrappers strewn across the floor, and a wall on the far side of the room covered with video monitors.

Seated in front of the monitors at the console interface was a Quarian. He wasn't paying attention to anything but the console, where he was typing away at a fevered pace, and he certainly didn't noticed the four people walking up behind him. When they got closer they began to make out that he was muttering something to himself.

"Must hide. Must escape. Mechs will protect. Cannot escape. Must hide. Must escape. Mechs will protect. Cannot escape."

"Is he alright?" Naruto asked.

"Veetor," Shepard said loudly enough to clearly be heard by the anyone in the room and probably outside. "It's okay. No one is going to hurt you."

"Must hide. Must escape. Mechs will protect. Cannot escape."

"It's no use, Commander," Miranda said.

Shepard activated her Omni-tool and after putting in a few commands, swiped it past the security console. All of the monitors went to snow and the console powered down. Veetor scrambled to keep typing, to re-activate the console, until he saw the people standing behind him.

"You!" he shouted. "You aren't here! You can't be here! How did you escape? No one escapes! They know you're here! They're going to find me now! You must run!"

"Calm down," Shepard said, raising her hands and showing Veetor that they were empty and that she meant no harm. "No one is going to hurt you. We just need to know what happened here."

"You… you mean. You weren't here?" Veetor asked. He looked left and right, like whoever he was scared witless of was going to jump from the shadows or through the walls. "You… you didn't see?"

"See what?" Jacob asked. "We just got here a little over an hour ago."

"No," Veetor said, shaking his head. He turned back to the console as it flickered back to life, whatever Shepard had done worn off. "You didn't see. You don't know. You weren't here. But I see. I know. I was here."

Veetor sat down at the console again and started typing again. Before anyone could say anything more, the monitors on the wall came to life with recorded video. Veetor stopped typing and looked up at the monitors as he shook and shivered.

"They came. They came in their large… thunder ship. They sent out their swarms. Made you freeze. Made you stop moving. Made you still. You can't hide. They know you're there. They find you and they freeze you. The seeker swarms. Cannot escape."

The four humans watched the people of the colony on the video being chased around by dark clouds of something. Anyone the cloud came into contact with was frozen in place. People, no matter the age or color, were stopped cold no matter what they were doing, or where they were, hiding or not.

"What is all this?" Naruto asked.

"He must have pieced together security footage from around the colony," Miranda said thoughtfully. Then her eyes widened as the scene on the monitors shifted suddenly. "What in the-"

"Then they came," Veetor said. "With their body boxes. They took the frozen. Like the dead. Took them away. No escape. Cannot hide. No where to run. No one left. But they'll be back. Cannot escape. Mechs will protect. No where to hide."

"What are those?" Naruto asked. "They look like giant… bug… people… things."

"Those have to be Collectors," Miranda said. She frowned as she studied the footage of the alien creatures.

"What are collectors doing out here?" Shepard asked. "And where do they come from anyway? I've only heard rumors about them. That they were some kind of mythological aliens that came from heaven, or hell, depending on who was telling the story."

"Collectors are rare, so information on them is scarce," Miranda said. "They sometimes appear to do business in the Terminus Systems, and then disappear back beyond the unmapped Omega Four Relay."

"Unmapped?" Naruto asked. "You mean, you haven't followed them to see what they're up to?"

"Anyone who goes through the Omega Four Relay never comes back," Jacob said. "Only the Collectors seem to be able to and their technology and weapons are so much more advanced than ours that attacking them is tantamount to suicide."

"Why are they attacking Human colonies though?" Shepard asked. "How are they doing it? What are those swarms of things attacking them? And why didn't they find Veetor?"

"The Collectors advanced technology might mean they have some kind of weapon that can neutralize a colony," Jacob said. "Like biotic stasis. Veetor's envirosuit probably protected him from detection and attack."

"Or they were only looking for humans," Miranda said.

"One of my clones found these big black and white furred animals out in the fields around the colony. They were frozen by some kind of red energy," Naruto said. "He didn't know what it was, but the animals themselves appeared to have still been alive inside. It wore off shortly after the clone found them and then they went back to eating the grass. It kind of looked like a cow, sort of."

"But without any way of replicating this neutralizing attack, we'll have no way of figuring out how to defend against it," Miranda said. "No matter for now. We should get this information back to the Illusive Man."

"There's more," Veetor said. He activated his Omni-tool. "I took readings many strange readings of them. Electromagnetic. Gravitation. Dark Energy."

"We need that data," Miranda said. It was at that moment that the door opened and Tali walked in. "We should take the Quarian back with us for a more thorough interrogation."

"What?" Tali immediately put herself in between Veetor and Shepard. "Veetor is sick. Take his Omni-tool data, but he has to come with me. He needs medical treatment and _that_ is back on the fleet."

"We only want to ask him a few questions," Jacob said. "He will be returned to you, unharmed."

"You don't have to take him and leave, Tali," Shepard said. "You could come with us."

"I'm still getting used to the fact that you're not dead," Tali said. "And you're working with Cerberus and… him." Naruto ducked his head but didn't say anything. "But I can't. I have my own mission that can't wait."

"Is it dangerous?" Shepard asked.

"I won't tell you in front of them," Tali said, motioning toward Miranda and Jacob, "but it's in Geth Space. That should tell you how important it is."

"I see." Shepard nodded and turned to Miranda. "Take a copy of the data. We'll leave Veetor to Tali."

"Very well, Commander," Miranda said. She didn't look happy, but at the same time, she didn't look displeased either. She activated her Omni-tool and started downloading Veetor's data.

"I'll call the shuttle for pick-up," Jacob said as he activated his Omni-tool. Shepard and Naruto turned to look at the monitors showing the footage of the Collectors and the captured colonists. Naruto reached into his armor and pulled out the doll.

"We'll get them back," Naruto said.

"And make them pay," Shepard added.

* * *

><p><span>Notes from the Author<span>

I can't help but point out that now the Collectors have both Shepard _and_ Naruto pissed at them. Both are, clearly, motivated to kick their collective asses... haha, bad pun. Those Collectors are so screwed, and no one has even been recruited yet. This is going to be so awesome!

I want to thank those who reviewed chapter 2 and added the story to their alerts and favs. You guys are the best.

**For those who don't know yet, I revised and added some stuff to chapter 2. You might wish to go and read it if you get confused by Naruto referencing Shepard asking him to help her check Cerberus out.** Hopefully, this chapter explained enough for anyone reading it to understand, but if not, then more can be seen in the revised chapter 2.

What I aimed to do with this story was give a reasonable, and believable, explanation for why Naruto and Mass Effect could be crossed over. It turned out to be pretty darn easy because Naruto universe has all that Space Time manipulation jutsu lying around and Mass Effect has Element Zero, which has properties that can warp the fabric of Space and Time. That I started this story after a crap ton has already happened to Naruto makes it more mysterious and, hopefully, keeps readers entertained trying to figure out what happened.

BlueBakaNinja, yes, you are right. Tali and the rest of the crew would probably shoot Naruto on sight if/and when they meet him in this story. Luckily for Naruto, they ran out of thermal clips before he showed up. Still, you can tell by Tali's reaction that Naruto must have been some kind of monster, the kind he was always accused of being, when he was Indoctrinated. I consider this just one more personal challenge that Naruto has to overcome, which also serves to make this story more interesting for you lovely readers.

Marvey4, I too noticed that a lot of other Naruto/Mass Effect stories have Naruto get exiled. He doesn't always stay that way, if there's a Konoha to go back to, but I felt that kicking Naruto out of the only support structure he has to lean on would be rather sadistic when he has to, on top of losing his memory, travel to an entirely new place with completely new customs and so on and so forth. Plus, I have plans to bring Konoha back into this story at a later date. More than just "support" as Kakashi put it in chapter one.

MEleeSmasher asked if this was a sequel or something I made up. Can it be both? It is a sequel to the background story I wrote, which takes place over the plot of Mass Effect 1. That "story", if you want to call it that, is little more than notes right now that i wrote to help me keep _this_ story straight. Nevertheless, it is still a sequel. The question I'm still pondering is whether I should incorporate "Sasuke's Story" into this one, or make it it's own fic.

Thank you for reading. Hope you liked Chapter 3 of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission.


	4. SSV Normandy SR2

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter Four: SSV Normandy SR2<p>

Last Time

_Naruto accompanied Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob to the human colony of Freedom's Progress to investigate what happened to the colonists. While Shepard took Miranda and Jacob into the colony, she secretly asked Naruto to look around the colony for any evidence that Cerberus was behind the kidnappings. Naruto and several of this clones discovered many empty homes, seats at dinner tables, places where people once had lives completely abandoned. The experience hardened Naruto's resolve to save the colonists and punish whoever stole them, but he couldn't be sure if Cerberus was behind it or not._

_Shepard, meanwhile, ran into her old shipmate, Tali'Zora Vas Neema Nar Rayya. Tali had come to Freedom's Progress to rescue another Quarian, Veetor, who had somehow survived the colony wide kidnapping and was holed up behind an army of mechs. Shepard and Tali agreed to work together to overcome the mech army, but it was by the timely arrival of Naruto that they survived. Unleashing a barrage of taijutsu, Naruto appeared to save both Shepard's team and Tali's from the mech army just as they ran out of thermal clips. Though Tali didn't trust Naruto, she respected Shepard's wish to keep him alive and allowed Shepard to see to Veetor first. Veetor revealed indisputable proof that the culprit behind the kidnappings was not the machinations of pro-human splinter group Cerberus, but the work of an enigmatic race known as the Collectors. Naruto and Shepard swore personal oaths to stop the Collectors and bring the colonists home._

* * *

><p>When the ground team from Freedom's Progress arrived back at the Cerberus space station, Miranda led them to a long conference room. One wall of the room was a set of windows, but whatever was on the other side Naruto couldn't make out. Four feet, or so, beyond the glass was completely enshrouded in pitch black shadows.<p>

"I have a report to file with the Illusive Man," Miranda said. "Naruto, have you made your decision?" Naruto looked at Miranda as he thought for just a moment before he nodded. "That's good to hear. I suggest you rest here. Shepard, the Illusive Man will wish to talk to you, no doubt. Do you remember the way to the Comm. Room?"

"Yeah, I remember," Shepard said. "I'll be there shortly."

"Very well," Miranda said as she turned and left the room.

"I have some things to square away too," Jacob said. "I'll see you later, Shepard."

Shepard nodded. She turned to Naruto when the door slid shut and beeped to acknowledge the door was closed. Naruto was still looking out the windows into the darkness.

"Naruto," Shepard said. She moved to stand next to him and found him staring at the darkness as if he was seeing a ghost. Or maybe, now that she noticed, he was staring at his reflection. What could be going through his head?

"I can't remember, but I did it," Naruto said almost too softly for Shepard to hear. "I really am a monster."

"Naruto-"

"Shepard!" Naruto snapped his head to the side and stared at her pleadingly. "What did I do? Tell me! What did I do? I can't have just killed people! I can't have just nearly killed people! What did I do that was so horrible that just looking at me makes complete strangers thing I'm going to… to…"

Shepard sighed. Should she sugar coat it or give it to him straight. From the look of him, if she sugar coated it, he'd probably just get angry. Besides, she didn't like being jerked around and wasn't really that good at doing it anyway. Truth it is then.

"I first met you on a planet called Feros," Shepard said. "Or rather, it was one of your clones."

"I don't… remember," Naruto said, frowning. He shook his head and waited for Shepard to continue."

"There's a human colony on Feros called Zhu's Hope," she said, "and the headquarters of a big company, Exo Geni. When I and the ground team arrived at Zhu's Hope, it was under attack from the Geth. I took the ground team and fought my way to the Geth's base camp, took them out, and started back to the colony. That's when I received a message from Sasuke that he'd found you after fighting through an army of plant zombies."

"I was fighting plant zombies?"

"No, your clone was, as it turns out," Shepard said. "The plant zombies were fighting anyone that felt threatened the colony. Your clone destroyed the plant zombies, and then entered the colony. By the time I arrived back at the colony, I was just in time to watch your clone rip one of the last human colonists, all of whom were brainwashed by the plant zombies, in half with your bear hands."

Naruto's eyes widened and his pupils shrank until they were nearly just dots. He opened his mouth and gaped, trying to say something. He took a shuddering breath and took a step back and then another, until his back hit the glass window.

"Then Sasuke appeared and cut your clone in half," Shepard said, her voice even, almost unfeeling. "Only two of the over twenty colonists that were alive when I left to deal with the Geth, had survived your clone."

Naruto started breathing heavily once he let out the breath that he was holding. His face was still locked in shock as he blinked quickly and tried to grab the window. Shepard growled. It wouldn't do if he lost his head. He needed to deal with this, now. So she grabbed Naruto's grasping hand, hauled him to his feet, and punched him hard enough in the gut to send him sprawling onto the floor.

"You wanted to know, and I told you," Shepard said as she moved to crouch next to Naruto. He stayed on the floor, his nose planted on the cool metal plating. "Losing control of yourself won't change anything. That was only the first time we met, and you did bad things, but that was certainly not the worst. We met four more times, the last time in person. Every time you seemed to escalate your blood thirst, your violence. Even our resident Krogan was repulsed, and they live for carnage and mayhem. Then you started taunting us, which only seemed to make everything you did worse."

"Stop," Naruto rasped as he lifted his head and hit it against the floor. He hit the floor again and again until a wet splat sounded and blood spread out around Naruto's head. "Please stop."

Shepard's eyes softened suddenly and she grabbed Naruto's shoulder. She lifted him up before he could crack his skull open and sat him against the darkened window. Tears mixed with the blood seeping from his head wound.

"I don't want to remember that," Naruto said, his eyes going dull. "I… I really was a monster. I…" He lifted his hands and saw blood all over the metal gloves. "I… They were right. The villagers were right! Your friend, whats-her-name, was right. I am a monster."

Shepard sighed. "You really _are_ an idiot," she said as if finally agreeing with someone else's assessment of him.

He looked at her. "What?"

"Sakura," Shepard said. "She said that the real you was kind of a dork, but you were genuinely a kind and caring person. Even if you were an idiot a lot of the time. At the time, I just thought she had the hots for you, but I think she really was calling it how it was."

"But… But, you saw me!" Naruto shouted. "You saw what I did! I can't remember, but you can! How can you say I'm not that person anymore? Sasuke had to erase part of who I was just to get rid of it! If it can happen once, then it can happen aga-"

SMACK!

Shepard lowered her hand from the backhand she'd given Naruto. "Naruto," she said. "Pull yourself together! _ You_ are _not_ a _monster!_ You actually care about people, like the colonists of Freedom's Progress. You actually care about your friends, which is why you came back. Isn't it?" Naruto nodded dumbly. Shepard continued. "The _thing_ that was in your body tried to kill your friends. That _thing_ wanted to go to your home and completely destroy everyone and everything that existed on your planet. Then it wanted to open a gateway for the Reapers to your galaxy. _You_ are not that _thing, _got it?"

"But… why? Why would I-" Naruto stopped and swallowed loudly at the look Shepard gave him. She stood up and looked down at Naruto as he continued to sit against the window. His wounds now having, somehow, healed without the application of any kind of medi-gel or healing jutsu, not that Shepard noticed. "Why would the… other me, do that? Why would… the other me say those things?"

"It was Sovereign," Shepard said. "A Reaper. A living machine of a race of living machines that for some reason are hell bent on wiping out all sentient life in the galaxy. They have the power to Indoctrinate anyone who is near them for too long."

"I… was Indoctrinated," Naruto said. It wasn't a question. "But then Sasuke… why did Sasuke save me?"

"He said it his way of getting revenge," Shepard said. She shrugged. "I don't know what he was getting revenge on, he never explained it."

"Heh," Naruto chuckled. A sardonic grin appeared on his face. "He would say that. Is Indoctrination so powerful that it could make a person do something they would never do?" Naruto asked. "So powerful that the only way to get rid of it is to destroy someone's brain? My brain?"

"From how I understand it, yes," Shepard said. "I don't get biology, much rather shoot things than understand how they work, but the longer you spend near a Reaper, the more you begin to think what it wants you to think. It doesn't matter what species you are, or how strong your will power is. You eventually become the Reaper's willing slave, doing whatever they want to whoever they want. In you, Sovereign found a powerful ally, but he underestimated Sasuke's abilities to do whatever it was he did."

"I think I understand now," Naruto's eyes narrowed as his lips curled. "That Sovereign guy was the one who brain washed- Indoctrinated me." Naruto growled and clenched his fist. "Made me do horrible things. Hurt my friends. Threaten my home. I swear, if I ever find this Sovereign, I'm going to rip him in half!" Naruto smashed his fist into the floor, leaving a fairly deep fist-shaped dent.

Shepard chuckled as she turned and slowly started walking away. "Glad to see you stop moping, Naruto," she said. Naruto looked up from the dent he put in the floor as he stared at Shepard in astonishment. She'd done all that to cheer him up? She could have just let him be, but she spent her time and a fair deal of effort dealing with his crap instead.

"Thank you," Naruto said. A soft smile formed on his face.

"No, thank you," Shepard said. "Whatever you and Sasuke did in Sovereign at the last moment, distracted him enough for us to destroy him."

"W-wait," Naruto said, jumping to his feet just as the door whooshed open. Shepard paused just before leaving. "Do you mean that Sovereign is-"

"Dead?" Shepard asked. She grinned at Naruto over her shoulder. "Yep. Blown to smithereens."

"Yeah!" Naruto jumped into the air. "Take that you mind washing bastard! Hah! Hah! You want some more?" Shepard snorted at Naruto's antics and started walking again. How did he go from depressed kid to _that_ so quickly?

* * *

><p>"Shepard." The Illusive Man took a long puff of his cigar as the image of Shepard stabilized in front of him. "Excellent work on Freedom's Progress. You've confirmed that the Collectors are the ones behind the attacks on human colonies. Nice work with Naruto, by the way."<p>

"Why do I get the feeling that you already knew who it was?" Shepard asked. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "I don't like being lied to or spied on."

"I told you before you left that I had an idea, but no proof," the Illusive Man said. "But now proof we have, thanks to you. And you are on my space station. Did you expect I wouldn't be watching?" The Illusive Man took a puff from his cigar. "The Quarians sent the data shortly before you arrived. It was a surprising olive branch, considering our history."

"You should try playing nice for once," Shepard said. "You'd be surprised how far it will get you."

"Diplomacy is nice when it works, but inconvenient when it stops you from doing what needs to be done," the Illusive Man said. "If the Collectors are behind this, then it's likely that the Reapers are behind them. They seem to have a penchant for working through agents. First Saren, and now the Collectors. But now that we know who the enemy is, we don't need to run anymore."

"Fighting a war doesn't strike me as something Cerberus would do," Shepard said. "We should let the Alliance know about this. And I _am _still a SPECTRE."

"Telling the Alliance won't accomplish anything in the near future," the Illusive Man said. "I already mentioned that they were stretched thin. They also happen to be sharing patrol duty in the Council Defense Fleet, now that Humans have a seat on the Council. But if you feel it will help, then by all means. Cerberus is the only organization in the proper place with the proper funding to do anything about the Collector threat."

Shepard sighed. She hated when bad people were right about anything. "Look, I agree that the Collectors have to be stopped. But if I'm going to be fighting a war, then I'm going to need an army… or a really good team." Shepard felt a cold chill go up her spine when she saw the Illusive Man smile.

"I expected as much," the Illusive Man said. "I've taken the liberty to put together several dossiers of some of the most powerful individuals in the galaxy for your team."

"I had a good team before I got blown up," Shepard said. "What happened to them?"

"Staff Commander Kaiden Alenko heads up a secret program for the Alliance," the Illusive Man said, "and Operations Chief Ashley Williams is on top secret assignment in the traverse. The rest of their files are… surprisingly well classified. Garrus Vakarian vanished several months after you died. Wrex returned to Tuchanka where I hear he has begun to unite the Krogan under Clan Urdnot. Doctor T'soni is now on Illium working as an information broker. She's rumored to be working for the Shadow Broker though. Until now, Tali'Zora's last known location was the Migrant Fleet, and while she does present an opportunity for recruitment, I'd have to learn more before I commit to that."

"Alright," Shepard said with an exasperated grunt. "I get it, they're not available. Is that all?"

"Two things," the Illusive Man said. "First, head to Omega. There's a brilliant Salarian scientist there named Mordin Solus. Doctor Solus runs a clinic and once recruited, can develop a solution to the seeker swarm problem."

"And the second?" Shepard asked.

"I found a pilot that I think you might like," the Illusive Man said, a slight smirk playing at his lips as he hit a button on his seat's computer interface. "I hear he's one of the best." Slowly the holographic tube around Shepard faded away until she was back in the Cerberus space station.

"Commander," someone behind Shepard called out. Someone suspiciously familiar sounding. She spun around and a grin immediately formed. "Funny meeting you here."

"Joker!" Shepard threw her hands out wide as she walked forward. She _carefully_ hugged the man and then pulled back. "I never thought I'd miss you and your lame ass jokes so much."

Joker snorted. "That's because my lame ass jokes bring in the crowds." Then a broad smile appeared on Joker's face as he started bouncing lightly as he stood. That was as excited as Shepard had ever seen him get, physically at least. "Come on, I gotta show you something."

As Joker led Shepard out of the Comm. Room, she felt the first wave of happiness she'd felt since waking up that morning. Here was the first familiar face she'd seen and the only one she trusted her life with in the whole base, though Naruto and Jacob were quickly earning her trust in that regard. She still wasn't ready to trust the Illusive Man, but Joker's presence put her a little bit more at ease. For half a second, she morbidly wondered if that was why Joker had been brought here.

"I can't believe it's you, Joker," Shepard said as he led her through the base.

"It's even harder for me to believe," Joker said. "I watched you get spaced!"

Shepard slowed when Joker nearly tripped, but he caught himself and then quickly moved on. "How much of the crew survived?" she asked.

"Presley didn't," Joker said. "There were some others down in engineering who didn't make it out. But most everyone survived. All went their separate ways after the rescue."

"What happened the last two years?" Shepard asked. "How did you end up in Cerberus?"

"After you died, I was grounded," Joker said bitterly. He opened a door and started down the next corridor. "Everything you stirred up, the Council and the Alliance just wanted gone. We were your team Commander. They took away my wings and everything that mattered to me, hell yeah I joined Cerberus."

Joker opened another door and entered the exact same room Shepard had left Naruto in. Only he wasn't here anymore. Shepard shrugged. He probably went to get something to eat, she reasoned.

"I still don't trust Cerberus," Shepard said. Joker walked up to the side of the room with darkened windows and activated his Omni-tool.

As he entered commands, he said, "They're not all bad. They brought you back. Let me fly. And then… there's this." So saying, Joker hit a command on his Omni-tool and the room on the other side of the windows began to light up. Shepard leaned against the glass as a warm smile tugged at her lips. "I was just told last night," Joker said, also smiling.

As overhead lights began to turn on, a large hanger was revealed. Then more lights began to come alive and revealed the beginnings of a star ship. The nose of the hull, where the cockpit was situated, widened as it stretched back. On either side were 'wings' with four Anti-Proton Thrusters, two on each wing. The tail of the ship had two fins sticking up from the main body, as if ready to steer toward some great destination. Under the belly, a large hanger could be seen. Painted a black and white scheme, the ship was finished being illuminated when the designation 'SR2' was spotlighted on the side of its bow.

"It's good to be home, huh, Commander," Joker said.

"We're gonna need to give her a name," Shepard said.

"That is _so_ cool!"

Joker and Shepard looked to their right as Naruto hopped down from inside of the ceiling. What had he been doing in there? Joker stiffened and then looked at Shepard.

"Uh… shouldn't you be, I don't know, _shooting_ that thing?"

"Relax, Joker," Shepard said. "He's not Indoctrinated anymore."

"Oh well that's _swell_!" Joker drawled. "Next thing you're going to tell me is that he was just misunderstood. You do remember he tried to blow up the Normandy, right?"

"I was the one who kicked him off the ship so we could get away," Shepard said. She glanced up at Naruto, who seemed completely mesmerized by the new Normandy. Not named, yet, but it was almost fact by this point. "He's fine now, though. Don't worry."

"I'll just not worry," Joker said, pointing toward the door, "out there. Oh, and if you bring him onto my new baby, you better make sure he's house trained. They just put her together again."

Shepard rolled her eyes as Joker left. Naruto walked up to her and pointed at the ship through the window. He was grinning like a little school boy who'd just gotten his first alliance ship model for Christmas.

"What is that thing?" he asked as his excitement dripped from every word he spoke.

"_That thing_ is a ship," Shepard said as she turned to look at the Normandy SR2. Almost reverently, she added, "My new ship. The Normandy."

"We get to fly in that thing!" Naruto started hopping up and down. Literally jumping for joy. "This is going to be the most awesomest mission to save the universe, ever!"

Shepard chuckled. Then she remembered Naruto had come from the ceiling. Frowning, she turned to Naruto and pointed at the hole he'd dropped from.

"Naruto," she said. "What were you doing in the ceiling?"

"Oh," Naruto grinned and scratched the back of his head. "I was just… uh… you know, scouting out the place… stuff like that."

"Naruto…"

Naruto's grin faded a little. He knew that tone of voice. "I was just a little curious," he said contritely. "I wanted to know where the air was coming from if we're in space."

"So you climbed into an air duct in the ceiling?"

"Yep," Naruto said as he beamed at her proudly. She arched an eyebrow at him, but his odd display of pride didn't wane. "Did you know that there was a giant fan up there?" he asked.

* * *

><p>Miranda had been true to her word. A couple hours after getting back from Freedom's Progress, Naruto was been doing some exercises in his room when Miranda brought him a pile of datapads. She had scared him when she appeared, having opened the door with the datapads in her hands and then paused and silently watched him do his routine for several minutes. When she finally spoke, he had to make her swear not to tell anyone about how girly his scream had been. He still couldn't figure out why he hadn't sensed her or why she hadn't said anything. He put the conundrum into the category of 'girls and the strange things they do that cannot be explained'.<p>

He spent an entire day figuring out how the datapads worked. After complaining about it over dinner that day, Jacob took pity on him and showed him how to work the devices. Naruto was so grateful that he offered one of his instant ramen to the man, but Jacob begged off, saying he was a meat and potatoes guy. Naruto didn't really understand what he meant, because he did have ramen with meat and potatoes, but in the end it simply meant that Naruto got more Ramen.

Over the next few weeks, Naruto read the datapads and discovered that Sasuke had appeared two years ago on some human colony called Eden Prime during an attack by the Geth. Sakura had apparently shown up on another human colony, Feros, the same one Shepard told him about. Both were 'rescued' by Shepard on her mission to stop Saren Arterius. Both helped Shepard on her mission until the end.

After Sasuke saved Naruto and sent him home, apparently from within Sovereign, Sasuke and Sakura left Shepard's crew. Sakura went on to be some kind of idol, or something, before she vanished into the Attican Traverse. Sasuke vanished into the Terminus Systems after Sovereign's defeat, though there were some sightings of him in Batarian Space, Turian Space, Citadel Space, Asari Space, Salarian Space, Alliance Space, and every other place that seemed to have a rumor mill.

None of this information really helped Naruto figure out where to look, but it was better than nothing. He didn't know where most of these places were, but he was positive he could figure something out if he asked someone from some of the places mentioned. For the first time since arriving here, he felt like he knew what he was doing for once.

His mission was to save Sasuke and Sakura. Bring them home to the right time. And on top of that, he had committed to bringing the bastard Collectors down. Even if he didn't trust Cerberus, he did want to do that much. Naruto didn't think Sasuke or Sakura would mind helping him or waiting until after the Collectors were dealt with, to go home.

Now, Naruto could barely hold in his excitement as he ran down the docking ramp toward the entrance of the Normandy. It had taken the Cerberus engineers an additional two months to finish putting the Normandy together. But it was finally done and they were going to get out of this base and complete their missions.

As he waited for the air lock, as it was called, to decontaminate him, Naruto shifted his bag on his shoulder. When he'd decided to go on the mission to Freedom's Progress, he'd left the large bag of stuff he'd brought with him from home on the space station. It wasn't like there was anything super important inside of it anyway, aside from some changes of cloths and fifty extra cartons of instant ramen. Now his new armor had been added to the mix, though it wasn't nearly as heavy as it looked like it should be when he stuffed it in with the rest of his things.

Shepard had told him that he'd have a room on this ship to himself on the crew deck. Someplace called the Starboard Observation. He guessed that it was someplace on the right side of the ship, that being the Starboard side. Hmm… Naruto frowned. When did he learn that about ships?

And then the little voice announced, "Decontamination: Complete. Welcome aboard, Mr. Uzumaki."

"Why can't this thing call me Naruto?" Naruto grumped. "Mr. Uzumaki makes me sound like an old man. I'm just seventeen!"

A blue ball attached to a blue step suddenly appeared in front of Naruto. He leaped backwards a foot, prepared to defend himself from whatever was the thing was. Then he realized that, despite how seemingly menacing it was, the blue ball wasn't advancing on him.

"Your age is not a factor in your designation, Mr. Uzumaki," the ball said, white indicators moving on its surface that showed the voices amplitude and frequency. "However, I have protocols that allow me to address the crew in whatever manner they deem appropriate. I will henceforth address you as Naruto."

"Uh… Thanks," Naruto said as he tilted his head slightly to the side.

"You are welcome," the blue orb said. "Logging you out, Naruto."

"Well that was weird," Naruto said as he exited the airlock. "For a minute there, I thought that the ship was alive."

"That's EDI," Joker said from Naruto's left. Naruto stopped and stared wide-eyed at all the lights, blinking or otherwise, on the bridge. Joker sat at the helm as he continued entering commands into his console. "It's ship cancer."

The blue ball appeared again, projected form a small round platform on joker's left, in front of the window showing the hanger outside of the Normandy. "I am not ship cancer, Mr. Moreau," the orb said. "I am the ship's artificial intelligence. You are already aware of this. Why do you insist on referring to me as 'ship cancer' when it is obvious I am not?"

"Like I told Shepard," Joker waved his arm at the blue orb for emphasis, "this original Normandy was just fine without you. It was nice and quiet. All you do is sit there and annoy me all day and then report anything that happens back to the Illusive Man. Ship. Cancer."

Naruto jumped slightly when Shepard put a hand on his shoulder. "Ignore them," she said. "They've been doing that all morning. Come on, I'll show you to your room."

Naruto frowned as Shepard led him into his new home for the foreseeable future. "Are you sure?" he asked. "I mean, you're the captain, right? Aren't you busy?"

Walking down the center pathway of the bridge, Naruto got distracted by the bright lights covering every conceivable surface of the curved walls and ceiling. Along either side of the path were five console seats, for a total of ten, with their holographic interfaces activated. All of them were full as the crew prepared for the maiden voyage, in just under an hour, by making sure all of the ships settings were in the right place, sensors weren't picking up anything bad, and that nothing would explode when the drive was activated.

"I'm actually less busy on this Normandy than the original," Shepard said as she descended the few short steps from the walkway to the wider floor of the Command Information Center. Directly in front of the two was a holographic projection of the Normandy and its current statistics such as kinetic barrier strength, drive output, remaining shield and armor strength, etc. "Most of the things I had to run around the old Normandy to find out are now reported by EDI. Not sure if that's so much of a good thing, but I'm grateful for the help."

Naruto took in the CIC as they passed through, his eyes wide open and his mouth gaping in awe. The path from the bridge split in two after the stairs and went around the center of the much wider space. The majority of that space was taken up by a large central console with the holographic projection of the ship. The ceiling was held up by for metal buttresses on either side of the center console. Where the buttresses met the floor to the exterior side of the room was where the two paths went until they met with a door, one to a laboratory and the other to the Armory. Along the hull of each side of the CIC were more seats with holographic interfaces. At the back of the CIC, which is where Shepard led Naruto, was a third door that swished open to reveal a small enclosed space.

"This is the elevator that will take you to all the levels of the ship," Shepard explained as she stepped in and pressed the large number three on the elevator's green interface. The doors closed with a soft hiss and then the elevator began to move down. Naruto grabbed onto the wall for support when he felt the floor suddenly start to move away from him. "The first deck is my quarters," Shepard said, "so you won't have access to that. The second deck is where we just were, the CIC. The third deck is where the majority of the crew sleeps, eats, and rests. The medical bay and gunnery station is also on the third deck. Fourth deck is Engineering and the cargo hold. Fifth deck is the hangar bay where the shuttle is docked."

As soon as Shepard finished her quick rundown, the elevator doors opened. "I've never seen any ship as awesome as this," Naruto said as he followed Shepard onto the crew deck. They took a right and went down a short hallway to the door at the end. When it opened, Shepard stepped back and held her arm out, signaling Naruto to go ahead of her.

"This is where you'll be staying," she said. "Starboard Observation."

Naruto stepped into the room and looked around in a little bit of shock and awe. The space was large. Much larger than he was expecting. He and maybe ten other people could probably stay in this much room. He grinned before a thought hit him.

"Not to sound ungrateful," Naruto said, "but are you sure that you don't want to put anyone else in here with me? I mean, this is a lot of space."

"To tell you the truth, it was here or a hole down in engineering," Shepard said. "For better or worse, the people on this ship don't really trust you yet. Here, they feel, you can be spaced if you ever go nuts." Naruto frowned as he looked down. Shepard walked into the room and began to inspect it. "I for one," she said, "don't think you'll go nuts. You've had plenty of time to do so already. They just need time to get used to you." Then under her breath she added, "It's almost as big as my quarters…"

Naruto looked back and forth around the room. Toward the bow was a small bed with against the curvature of the hull. Then against the wall opposite the hull was a desk with a small lamp on it. In the center of the room, centered on a large window looking out into the hanger, were two black couches. The aft side of the room was empty.

"Shepard," Naruto said, "I appreciate you letting me come. And the help you're giving me finding my friends. And all the other stuff you've done for me." Naruto nodded at Shepard and gave her a thumbs up with the most serious of looks on his face. "I swear to pay you back."

Shepard smiled and patted Naruto on the back. "Don't you worry about it. We seem to walk a similar path anyway. I have to get back to the CIC now." Shepard turned and left the room, before the door closed, she paused. "If you get hungry, there's a kitchen out here too." Then she left.

* * *

><p>Naruto found himself on the bridge, standing next to Joker, when the Normandy was finally cleared to leave dry dock. He watched with slight awe as the huge hangar doors slid apart and revealed the stars and space beyond. The view <em>was<em> incredible, but nothing compared to when the docking clamps released and Joker piloted the Normandy out into space.

He watched through the window next to EDI's avatar as the station quickly became smaller and smaller. What surprised him the most was how smooth the movement was. They were moving fast, and yet he didn't feel like they'd accelerated at all. Then the space around them blue shifted and the Normandy began traveling faster than light.

"That is so awesome!" Naruto said as he watched the swirling blue lights of the warped space moving past them.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Joker asked. Naruto grinned and shook his head. Joker rolled his eyes and went back to work.

"Joker," Shepard said as she walked up behind him. "Where are we headed now?"

"Our first destination is the Omega Nebula, Sahrabarik System," EDI said. "The Illusive Man believed it would be a good idea for you to see the Omega Four relay for yourself before you chose where to go from there. Also, the Omega station is in the Sahrabarik System. The station acts as a trade hub for the Terminus Systems as a whole and, fortunately, is also where Doctor Solus and Archangel are reported to be. Our ETA is twenty minutes."

Miranda walked onto the bridge and took a spot standing on Shepard's right. She crossed her arms and leaned against the bulkhead. "Have you decided what we'll be doing first, Commander?" she asked.

"Naruto has informed me that the he doesn't have any leads for his friends yet," she said. Naruto nodded. "So I've decided to follow your advice, Miranda, and look for Doctor Solus first. If we ever run into the collectors before we're ready, we'll need a counter to the seeker swarms. Hopefully, Doctor Solus will be able to come up with something."

"Indeed," Miranda said. "Who are taking on the ground team?"

"Since there are only four of us now, I was just thinking of bringing everyone," Shepard said. "Naruto expressed his wishes to ask around about his friends to see if he could find any leads. I don't see why he can't do that while the three of us head to get the good Doctor."

"Sounds like a good plan," Miranda said. She pushed away from the wall and said, "I better go get ready then. I'll see you in twenty."

Naruto saluted Joker as he walked past him, then stuck his tongue out at him and pulled his eye lid down. Joker made a face back. Naruto kept walking with a stupid grin on his face. Shepard watched the exchange silently and waited until Naruto was gone before she asked, "Do I even want to know?"

"Frankly Commander," Joker said. "I'm not really sure myself. I get the feeling he's doing it to hide how he really feels. It's annoying though."

"I'll let him know to turn it down, then," Shepard said.

"Sure, go ahead," Joker said in a tone that clearly said, 'good luck, but I doubt it.'

Shepard turned and walked away from the bridge. The mystery of Naruto and the mission to stop the Collectors foremost on her mind. Underneath both lay a worry that nothing she 'knew' to be true was actually the truth.

* * *

><p><span>Note from the Author<span>

This concludes the Introduction Arc of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission. I hope it was enjoyable.

I want to thank everyone who's read this and reviewed so far. I am humbled to have gained so much attention, actually. Your comments and questions are very much appreciated. So thanks, all of you.

This chapter wasn't as awesome to write as the last one, what with Naruto going emo over how horrible he was when he was Indoctrinated. But it's not like anyone can blame him. If anyone else was suddenly released from it, they'd probably feel the same way about what they'd done, completely willingly. That Naruto can't even remember what he'd supposedly done makes it harder to accept, but I think I kept Naruto in character as he overcame it. Hopefully. I think. He's still got his work cut out for him, but all he'll need to do is unleash his famous Talk no Jutsu on them. One or two applications and add water. Rinse and repeat. When figuring out Shepard's response to Naruto's emo-ness, I figured that while she may have been capable of talking Saren into commiting Seppuku, in game, this is more like real life. She's not a diplomat with fancy talking ability (nor is she Naruto with Talk no Jutsu), rather, she's more of a Para-gade Sniper who'd rather shoot the offending party between the eyes from a mile off, tactical cloak optional.

Hopefully, I described the Normandy correctly. I found it more difficult to describe it as is than if I had been making it up. And Joker too. I can't really be sure if I captured Seth Green in what I've portrayed here, but I tried my best.

wwefollower, I am actually considering the pros and cons of Naruto/Miranda. That said, when I do make my final decision, it'll be later on in the story. As for Naruto being an apologist, well, that's just not Naruto. At least, not the one I know. He's more of a "I'll just go be awesome and then everyone can think of me what they will," kind of person. Prime example, before battling Pain, a majority of the people in Konoha hated Naruto or just disliked him; after Pain was defeated, Naruto was the new Hero of Konoha and everyone loved him. It's my opinion that Naruto changes people's opinions of him by earning their respect, instead of asking for it. The emo-ness of this chapter and the last should be just a momentary lapse in his Naruto-ness (is that a word?).

Marvey4, I too don't really think Naruto, or any other ninja, would just up and use guns because 'they're modern'. Heck, it's my opinion (entirely subjective) that there are no guns on Naruto's homeworld because ninja are so much deadlier than any gun could be. Heck, the Yellow Flash was faster than any bullet could hope to be with his Flying Thunder God Technique. Naruto can, and most likely will, not ever really use that hand gun that Miranda gave to him. Besides, why would he use a gun when he can use Rasengan? Way more awesome than some gun (unless we're talking about the Cain... the Cain always wins).

LeadStrategist, great questions! The Fox Cloak and Naruto's Indoctrination will be, as you suspected, answered in the course of the story. Without spoiling anything, I can tell you that Naruto does still have the ability to do the Fox cloak, provided Kurama's agreeable at the time. And I'm not talking Stage One Fox Cloak, but Full Transformation Fox Cloak. All Nine Tales! Still won't be able to keep longer than five minutes though, probably. As for the rest, stay tuned!

Thanks for reading. Hope you like chapter 4 of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission.


	5. Ninja World Intermission I

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter Five: Ninja World Intermission I<p>

Last Time

_Naruto arrived back at the Cerberus space station only to go into a small mental break down as he learned from Shepard just what it was he'd done that made everyone seem to hate him. He'd actually become the monster that everyone thought he was. There was no proving them wrong, he'd actually been that monster. Shepard set him straight, describing how Indoctrination works and telling Naruto in no uncertain terms that he wasn't responsible. That didn't make Naruto feel much better, just angry at Sovereign._

_After two months of preparation, Naruto joined Shepard and the crew of the Normandy SR2 as they set out. Their first destination, the Omega._

* * *

><p>"I call this, the first Shinobi Representative-Kage summit, to order." Mifune silently stood hunched over the podium at the front of the Shinobi Congress Chamber while the members seated at the large round table before him slowly went silent. It was kind of nostalgic, standing at the head of the table at another summit of the world powers. This time, like the last, the fate of their world was on the line, or so he was led to believe by the Hokage.<p>

"Thank you," Mifune said once the five Kage and Shinobi Representatives had fallen silent. He never thought he'd live this long, if he was honest with himself. His hair had turned white and his beard and mustache were colored to match. Still, if he still had it within him to serve, then he would do what he could. He may not be able to fight like he used to, but he could certainly sit around all day arguing and keeping the peace with sensible laws.

Sitting at the table in front of him was perhaps some of the most powerful people in the world. Himself included, they governed the world and kept the peace. The Popular House of the Shinobi Congress was much more numerous with a representative for every ten thousand people, and of course they influenced what laws were drawn up and passed, but the people in this room had the responsibility to make sure those laws were sensible enough to work. The Kages were then to carry the laws out with the ninja and samurai peace keeping forces under their command.

The system was set up to check the power of the ninja forces with the numbers and desires of all people. Disputes between people and lands were dealt with peacefully and war could not be declared unless every representative in the Shinobi Congress agreed to it. Anyone who didn't submit to these rules upon joining automatically forfeited their eligibility to all the rights that included. This meant trade with members states of the federation, finance interaction with members of the federation, and all the other protections a federal government provided. The harsh penalty for not joining the Shinobi Federation essentially insured that everyone who wanted to survive did join. Once in, no one was allowed to leave as resources and man power were then spread evenly across all lands.

All of this had sprung from the desires of one person strong enough to stand up to the status quo. One person who took the lessons handed down to him throughout his life by his mentors and enemies and came to one conclusion. Separated by hate and anger, none of them would survive, but unified by understanding and love, they would all live to see a better future that would never see the likes of another World War. Mifune knew this was what Uzumaki Naruto had wanted.

"Before we begin," Mifune said, "let us hold a moment of our time in silence to remember those lost that bought the peace we now hold so tightly." He and the other members of the summit bowed their heads for a moment, some of them lower than others. Everyone in this room had lost someone in the last war. Even a decade later, the loss was still fresh.

The moment passed, Mifune raised his head and said, "Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I know you are all, each of you, busy with the demands our stations put on us, but the time grows dire once more. The peace we have all fought and bled for is under threat once more. I'm sure all of you have read the brief sent to you this morning. Hokage, if you would, please elaborate on your findings."

Kakashi placed his elbows on the table in front of him and clasped his hands in front of his face. He looked over the other Kages and Shinobi Representatives. Gaara, Kazekage, and Killer Bee, Raikage, sat to his right. Kurotsuchi, Tsuchikage and grand-daughter of the former Tsuchikage, and Chojuro, Mizukage and member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, sat to his left. Directly across from him sat the current Samurai General Urakaku.

Next to each of the Kage were their respective Shinobi Representatives. Mifune, former Samurai General, for the land represented by Iron. Gaara's sister, Temari, for the lands represented by Wind. Former Raikage, brother of Killer Bee, A for the lands represented by Lightning. Former Mizukage, Terumi Mei for the lands represented by Water. Akatsuchi, former guardian of the late Oonoki, for the lands represented by Earth. Finally, Tsunade, former Hokage, for the lands represented by Fire.

"The reports you read no doubt made mention of a person who was supposedly dead," Kakashi said, keeping his gaze level and straight ahead. Despite this, his eye was unfocused as he spoke. "Exactly six months ago, Uzumaki Naruto reappeared in the norther wilderness of the Land of Fire," Kakashi said. "His arrival was announced by an explosion powerful enough to level the entire forest within twenty miles of the epicenter. I sent a team to investigate and found the living body of Naruto."

"That's impossible," A snapped. "The boy died in the final attack. Bee was there. He saw it happen."

"There was a big boom," Bee shot his hands out, simulating an explosion, "we knew it spelled doom. It sucked up The Man, and all I could say was damn!" Everyone, of course, knew that when Bee referred to The Man, he was talking about Naruto.

"As hard as it is to believe," Gaara said, "I believe that if anyone could find his way back, even after ten years, it would be Uzumaki Naruto. Remember, none of his remains were ever found, so the possibility exists."

"With the amount of chakra powering that explosion, it wouldn't surprise me if everything sucked into it was vaporized," Kurotsuchi said. "Grandfather was disappointed the boy couldn't have lived longer to see the world he'd help build, but that has always been the cost of war."

"With respect," Tsunade said, "the veracity of our information is not up for debate. I met with and healed Naruto personally. Ino Yamanaka went into Naruto's mind and confirmed that it was, indeed, the Uzumaki Naruto that vanished at the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War. She also confirmed the survival of Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. The survival of Tobi could not be confirmed, but is suspected."

"Considering what we know about that bastard, I have no doubts that he survived," Chojuro said. He frowned and scanned over a sheet of paper set on the table in front of him. "Are we to believe, then, that the rest of these reports aren't fabricated either?"

"And here I was hoping this whole damn thing was a farce," A said.

"May I inquire as to the current whereabouts of Naruto?" Gaara asked. "After all this time, I should like to speak with my friend."

"Unfortunately, Naruto returned to where he came from roughly four months ago," Kakashi said.

"What?" Kurotsuchi shouted as she stood. She smashed her fist into the, thankfully, steel reinforced desk and leveled the Hokage with a uncomprehending glare. "The Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi finally reappears after ten years and you just let him leave?"

"Please sit and I'll explain," Kakashi said. He ignored Kurotsuchi and continue talking. "It's not in the report, but Naruto had lost his memory of everything that happened after gaining control of Kurama's power at the Waterfalls of Truth." Kurotsuchi grumbled as she sat back down. "Everything, that is, but the last few moments of his time spent in the alternate dimension."

"Do you truly believe that it is another dimension, Hokage?" Temari asked. "Could it be possible that it wasn't something else?"

"In truth," Tsunade said, "our research hasn't led us to a definitive answer on where he is. We placed a time-space tag onto his back before he left. When we tracked it, the trail led through both warped time and space. At this point, another dimension is simply our best guess."

"Your best guess isn't good enough," A said. "And why is this only now being brought to our attention. Secrets and shit like this has been outlawed for over a decade."

"I too was shocked that we weren't informed sooner than this," Mifune said. "Why did it take four months for Fire to bring this to our attention? Especially when it involves something as important as the Kyuubi and Uzumaki Naruto."

"If it were just Naruto resurfacing," Tsunade said, "I would have brought it up as soon as I returned, but..."

"Shortly after Naruto left," Kakashi said, "one of my ninja found a sealed scroll stored in the Hokage's Sealed Vault keyed to Might Guy, Yuhi Kurenai, and my own blood. When Guy and Kurenai set eyes on the scroll, they only then remembered it existed and that it should only be opened when I was Hokage." Kakashi fell silent for a moment, in case anyone had anything to say, but it was apparent that he had everyone's undivided attention.

"At that time," Kakashi said, "we only had a chakra imprint of the hyper-advanced technology Naruto had used to travel to the alternate dimension and back. Inside this scroll, though, was a data storage device and what is termed as an Omni-tool. This Omni-tool is part of what enabled Naruto move between dimensions without using a jutsu. When we inserted the data storage device into the Omni-tool, we discovered a codex of information on an entire alien galaxy. It also contained information on things Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had been involved in." Kakashi lowered his hands so that they were flat on the table in front of him. "The reason it took this long to bring this information to your attention was because it took two full months to understand exactly what we had and then another two months to convene this meeting."

"You must understand," Tsunade said, "we didn't even know what the thing was or that it was related to Naruto at all until two months ago. Until then, the Omni-tool wasn't giving us anything useful other than raw digital information that our computers couldn't understand. As soon as we cracked the code, the very day in fact, I called for this meeting."

"I suppose your explanation is adequate," Mei said. "However, the return and departure of Uzumaki and the discovery of this technology doesn't warrant a summit of this magnitude. Tell us why you really called this meeting."

Kakashi nodded. It was true. They could have simply sent diplomatic pouches around to each of the leaders telling them everything discussed so far. But not what was next. Kakashi held up his left hand and the orange interface of an Omni-tool activated. Several people gasped as the space above the empty center of the room was filled by the holograph of a strange, six legged, insect like being that was as nearly as tall as the six story high room's ceiling. The 'head' of the body was small and near the bottom while the body that flared out behind it was both wide and thick until it tapered off into a jutting tail that scraped the ceiling.

"_**Your efforts have only succeeded in delaying the inevitable, Uzumaki Naruto,**__" _the things said in a deep and baritone voice that was utterly monotone and unfeeling. "_**Your people will fall and then your galaxy. The skies of every planet will be darkened by our numbers. Revel in your fleeting victory, cling to your futile hope, for your end is nigh. We are coming." **_The giant holographic being clenched its legs and then vanished.

"Needless to say," Kakashi said, breaking the hushed silence that had fallen over everyone else, "I don't think we should let a declaration of war go unchallenged." His eye was not glinting harder than anyone had seen since the end of the war.

"Wh-what is that thing?" Kurotsuchi shrieked, all the composure of a Kage lost.

"It's called a Reaper," Tsunade said. "At least, that's what the Omni-tool named it. Reaper 'Harbinger', supposedly. Other than that, we aren't too sure. We've only deciphered a fraction of a percent of the data stored on the device in the last two months it took to set up this meeting."

"W-we're all going to die!" Kurotsuchi shouted. She jumped from her seat and was breathing heavily. Her eyes were bulging. Then Akatsuchi clamped a hand onto her shoulder and leveled a bland, almost blank look at her. She stared hysterically at him for several long and tense silent seconds. Then the tension released from her body like a compressed spring. She pulled her chair back and sat down again.

"None of us particularly enjoyed that message ," Gaara said. He glanced around the table and noted that everyone present looked troubled. Like their demons were crawling out of the wood work once more to nibble at their sanity. Like Shukaku had done when he was still a Jinchuriki. "That we should live in trouble times not once, but twice, doesn't speak well for our favor amongst the Kami. But I would point out that this Reaper Harbinger was speaking to Naruto. It spoke of his futile efforts, as if Harbinger's arrival was unstoppable, but Naruto had tried to stop it anyway."

"Reapers are fools if they think they can't be stopped by The Man," Bee said. "A fools fool. Anyone should know, The Man, can."

Gaara nodded. "I agree with the Raikage."

"It was once said that no one could change this world, filled with hate and revenge," Kurotsuchi said. She looked up, her fear still there, but now contained behind a wall built by courage. "Grandfather said that Naruto made him think otherwise. He's already changed the impossible once, and won. Why not these Reapers?"

Mifune nodded. He looked about the table and noted that everyone seemed to agree. "Everyone who agrees that we should make any and all attempts to resist these Reapers, say Aye. I'll remind the Kage, they do not get a vote in this decision."

"Aye!" All six members of the Shinobi Congress said in unison.

"It's settled then," Mifune said. "The information that we face a new foe from beyond should not and will not be kept from the public. Any effort to repel beings who can make such threats casually cannot be kept secret, nor should it. However, before we decide how to proceed, would the Hokage please describe what you know about our new foe as of this point in the deciphering of the Omni-tool data."

Kakashi picked up a few pieces of paper that lay in front of him and scanned over them quickly. When he put them down, he said, "At this point, we have a few legends about the Reapers as recorded by the people of this other galaxy and a few diagnostic scans taken at an unspecified time and place. The scans can't be interpreted yet, but teams are working on that as we speak. The legends speak of a race of intelligent computerized space craft that are alive and have been propagating a cycle of galactic extinction every fifty thousand years since they appeared. These legends and some evidence of Reaper presence studied around their galaxy place their origin at least forty million years ago. That's the rough estimate, of what we've determined to be a 'amateur' archaeologist, who wrote the legend we deciphered."

"And now they wish to entangle our own world and galaxy," Gaara said.

Tsunade smirked and said, "Naruto sure knows how to pick them."

"Hokage," A said, "You mentioned that these Reapers wipe out all life every fifty thousand years?"

"Yes," Kakashi said.

"And Uzumaki was, if we look underneath the underneath, resisting these Reapers in that recording," Gaara said.

A nodded. "Then it might be safe to assume that the Reapers are about to launch their next attack on that galaxy. Maybe already have. If Naruto is resisting the Reapers, then perhaps he's allied himself with the natives."

"Are you suggesting we ally ourselves with them as well?" Mifune asked.

"That doesn't sound like such a bad idea," Mei said. "The enemy of our enemy is our friend, after all."

"Hang on just a moment," Temari said as she held up her hands. "Just how much do we even know about these people that we're so eager to ally ourselves with. The Naruto I know has a knack for becoming friends with his enemies. Some people find that admirable, but we don't have anyway of seeing his allies for ourselves to determine how trustworthy they are."

"The Wind Representative raises a good point," Kakashi said. "And we've come to similar conclusions. The answer, of course, is quite simple. We already have a trusted agent in Uzumaki Naruto and we're close to locking in his space time coordinates. When that is done, we theorize that we'll be able to send back and forth parcels of varying size. Including correspondence and possibly intelligence. Naruto should be able to send us actionable intelligence then."

"We don't have enough time to sit around and squabble over the details like this," A said, suddenly interrupting Kakashi. "Hokage, those machines you called Reapers are far more advanced technologically than we are. If we want to have any hope of fighting against them, we'll need to match firepower with fire power. Is there anything in that Omni-tool that can help in that regard? Because if there isn't, then we're simply wasting our time here and would be better off going home and living our the last years of our lives in peace."

"There is information on a lot of technology in the codex," Kakashi said. "Too much for any single nation to decipher on its own to be of any use."

"Then I hereby request that all information on weapons and power generation be given to Lightning," A said.

"Now hang on just a minute," Kurotsuchi said, jumping to her feet. "I'm not going to just let Kumo get all the powerful weapons while the rest of us flounder in the dark. I want that weapons data for Iwa as well!"

"Clearly!" Mifune shouted, gaining everyone's attention. "Clearly," he said, "past prejudices are hard to overcome. But the days of the hidden villages are over now. The rightful claim to this data does not lie with any one land, but with all lands. All humanity."

"Then let us set up a research facility on neutral ground," Gaara suggested. "Where all teams of scientists who are willing and able will be funded to decipher and research the information in the Omni-tool data. The Lightning Representative is correct in that we don't have time to worry about the smaller things now. We must be prepared to repel, of not join Naruto where he is, in the fight against the Reapers."

"We'll also need to mobilize our economies," Tsunade said. "It would be impossible to construct some of the devices and machines needed with our current level of technology. We'll need to out innovate ourselves at a pace that cannot be set too high. At the same time," Tsunade took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "we can't drive ourselves into the ground. We may have built a moderate amount of wealth over the last decade, but the capitol needed to do a fraction of one-one hundredth of the things required to get up to speed could bankrupt us for a thousand years."

"It would seem that no one land would be able to do any of this on their own," Mei said. "We'll need to trust each other and work together to get anything done. I for one don't intend to roll over for these Reapers. Let them come. We of the Lands of Water will be ready."

The rest of the Shinobi Representatives voiced their agreement and began to hash out the details. Where the research facility would be, what was considered neutral, and other things related to getting the work done. Kakashi tuned most of it out as he wondered just what Naruto had gotten himself into.

* * *

><p>Naruto sneezed as he pulled on the combat boots that went with the armor. As soon as his foot was settled into the shoe, the neck of the boot tightened automatically. Naruto grinned and stood up. Some of the things in this place were kind of weird. That giant spinning red thing they called the Omega Four Relay for one. But automatic tightening boots, that was awesome.<p>

He looked out the window at the gigantic space station built into a huge rock. It was like someone built a city in space without the planet. There had to be millions of people living in all those towers and other building sticking out of the rocky surface.

As he stared out of the Starboard Observation window in awe of the construction know how it must have taken to build such a place, Naruto wondered just how hard it was going to be to fulfill his mission. Finding Sasuke and Sakura was already hard enough. But he also felt a great need to repair whatever damage he'd done to this galaxy while he was Indoctrinated. Shepard may say otherwise, but he still felt like he had to do something to make up for it.

And then there was the small inconvenience that no one seemed to trust him or his motives. He couldn't really blame them now that he knew why, but it wasn't making his mission any easier. He needed to figure out how to fix that too. Preferably as quickly as possible.

Naruto turned toward the door as the Normandy slowed to a stop. He palmed the door panel and was surprised to see Miranda standing there with her hand raised to open the door from the other side. Naruto frowned and tilted his head in askance.

"I had come to make sure you were ready, Naruto," Miranda said, lowering her hand.

"Yeah," Naruto said with a grin. "Let's go."

"You seemed a bit down since returning from Freedom's Progress," Miranda said. She and Naruto entered the elevator and began ascending to Deck Two. "I was afraid you'd lost your resolve."

Naruto chuckled. "The first thing you gotta learn about me is that I never go back on my word," he said. "It's my nindo. My Ninja Way!"

"That's good to know," Miranda said as the doors opened. They both could see Shepard and Jacob by the airlock waiting on them. "Well then, let us put your nindo to the test."

Naruto grinned. "Alright!"

* * *

><p><span>Note from the Author<span>

I apologize for the shortness and lack of action in this chapter. This story pertains not just to Naruto, but the whole ninja and mass effect universes. I had to put them in somewhere and the lull in Naruto's side of things offered the perfect opportunity to show what exactly is going on in the land of Ninja. A lot of things were talked about, revealed, and discussed in this chapter, but not much happened. I assure you good readers, the next chapter involves a certain Turain Archangel. There will be plenty of action to be had.

I came up with the idea for the Shinobi Congress by mixing several different governing ideas together. The Bicameral Houses of the congress was, to the best of my knowledge, a US innovation (and I'm not speaking with any authority on that matter), the Shinobi representatives is sort of like feudalism because all the other lands and countries are represented by six people, who each bear the name of the six most powerful countries (Water, Earth, Lightning, Wind, Fire, and Iron). After that, I figure any laws passed by this new Federal System would have to be enforced, so the Kage and ninja under their command became something like the state police, but with much more man power cause the federal government doesn't have enforcement power. The Kages sort of act like regional governors because within each land, they are the highest authority and local laws are passed by their own councils and stuff, just as it had been before the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Marvey4, Naruto is indeed 17-18. While I wasn't explicit about it, but Kakashi did sort of hint that Naruto wasn't as old as he should have been in chapter one. I won't spoil how Naruto has time traveled though. That reveal will come later.

MEleeSmasher, great idea! I already have something in mind for Naruto's Loyalty mission, but I really like this idea. I might just use it.

The Dark Soldier, Mass Effect: Sasuke's Journey (tentative title) is currently a bullet point list. Whether I write it or not, whatever form it takes, will be after this story is complete.

AnInappropriateName you are correct, if Naruto had simply lost him memory of the last ten years, then he'd be a teenager inside of a man's body. However, as I pointed out to Marvey4 above, it's more than that. I don't want to spoil how it happened, but Naruto really is still 17-18 years old. Good catch though, and keep watch for more clues.

kitsuneLovers94, I too have noticed how similar Jack and Naruto's back stories are. I'm pretty sure Jack will think Naruto is a goody-two shoes pussy at first. But he does have the Talk no Jutsu and the unquantifiable ability to grow on people's good side... when he's not indoctrinated anyway. I look forward to seeing how Naruto and Jack interact.

To the rest of you dear readers who have reviewed, faved, and alerted, thank you very very much. And all of the rest of you are just awesome. Thanks for reading chapter five of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission. Hope you liked it.


	6. Shepherds, Archangels, Ninjas

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter Six: Shepherds, Archangels, Ninjas (Or, when the shepherd's away, the archangel's play, and ninjas fly to the moon)<p>

Last Time

_The leaders of the free Ninja world gathered under the request of the Representative of the Lands of Fire. The other Kages and Representatives were shocked to learn that Naruto had reappeared after missing for ten years and even more incensed that they hadn't been informed at all until the meeting. However, the Water Representative pointed out that just Naruto alone wouldn't have warranted calling a full summit of Kages and Representatives. The Hokage then presented a recording of Reaper Harbinger taunting Naruto for resisting the Reapers and essentially declaring war on the Ninja world and their galaxy._

_Despite their fear and apprehension, those gathered at the summit came to a decision. Showing their faith in Naruto, they chose to follow his lead, and fight the Reapers. As they decided how to go about doing so, the aforementioned blond ninja set out for what could possibly be his largest adventure yet._

* * *

><p>Naruto gasped and choked as he fumbled with the helmet to his suit. He coughed and forced his lungs to not breath the toxic Omega station air while he pulled the helmet on. Blackness creeped in to the edges of his vision while Jacob helped him by sealing the helmet on.<p>

Then sweet, sweet relief appeared in the form of filtered air. It wasn't cool, rather, the filter just made the air not smell. But what a relief sweaty humidity was over the cesspool of garbage floating in the air and into the lungs of anyone brave or foolish enough to breath without a helmet on.

Naruto could only stare incredulously at the others in front of him through the clear faceplate of the helmet. They had, of course, no problem breathing this putrefied gas. Why was it that only he had such a problem?

"I hate you," Naruto grumbled as he looked at them incredulously. "Why can you breath this… bleh…" Naruto swallowed the bile rising up his throat. He took a few more moments to compose himself before he said, "It stinks in here."

Jacob smirked down at the doubled over Naruto. They stood in the access hallway to to the docking arm that attached to the Normandy, which was basically a decrepit hallway carved from the rock of the asteroid Omega was built into with glass windows on one side. Visible through the window was the Normandy in all her glory, not that anyone other than Shepard and her ground team would ever see it from this point. "You get used to it after a while," Jacob said. "Some of the old cities back on Earth are still dealing with worse pollution, like Los Angeles."

"Hah," Miranda laughed. "Omega. What a piss hole. I can't help but agree with Naruto. I feel like I'll need a shower _after_ being through decontamination."

"Let's just make the most of our time here," Shepard said, though it was obvious that the grime that has already attached itself to her exposed neck and face had grossed her out. Being the marine she was, though, she pushed through it. "EDI, any local news or chatter about Doctor Solus or Archangel?"

The four members of the ground team proceeded through the door at the end of the hall and entered into a large reception hall that looked more like a garbage dump. It_ is _a garbage dump, Naruto realized as he noted several piles of old equipment, rusting metal, and other refuse best left undescribed. Several different species milled about the area, but none of them paid Shepard and her companions any mind.

"_News reports and radio chatter seem to indicate that a plague has broken out recently in the slums. Doctor Solus has reportedly opened a clinic inside the quarantine zone in an effort to help the sick and cure the plague. I have no news to report on Archangel."_

"Thanks EDI," Shepard said. "Keep an ear out for Archangel. The rest of us will head to the-"

"Ah, Welcome to Omega," a bug eyed Salarian greeted cheerfully to Shepard. She leaned back as the Salarian leaned into her personal space. "You must be new here. I can always tell. Allow me to-"

Loud, clomping steps echoed into the reception area. Several people that used to be minding their own business quickly made themselves scarce as an armored, human-shaped Batarian walked up behind the Salarian. The Salarian spun around and shrank into himself as he took a step back and bumped into Shepard. Shepard scowled and pushed the Salarian away from her so that he bumped into the black, scratched up chest plate of the four-eyed Batarian.

"H-hello Moklan," the Salarian squeaked up at the grimacing Batarian. "I-I was j-just-"

"Leave Fargut," the Batarian snarled. "Now!"

"Hehe!" Fargut laughed nervously. He grinned idiotically and quickly ran away as he said, "Of course, Moklan. Anything she wants!"

"Fucking scavengers," the Batarian grumbled. He turned back to Shepard and her crew and opened his arms. Derisively, he said, "Welcome to Omega… Shepard."

"I get the feeling you already knew we were coming," Shepard said. Her hand twitched, but remained by her side as she stared the Batarian down. That was the only indication that she was contemplating grabbing her hip-holstered handgun.

"Of course," Moklan said. "You're not as devious as you'd like to think. We had you pegged the moment you entered the Omega Nebula. Aria wants to know what brings a dead SPECTRE to Omega. Go to Afterlife and present yourself. Now."

"I didn't come here to cause trouble," Shepard said. "But that doesn't mean I'll bow down to any dictator that comes along asking for my allegiance. I'll meet Aria when I'm damn well ready."

"Things seem to explode wherever you go, Shepard," Moklan said imperiously. "You can't blame Aria for being cautious. Afterlife. Now."

That said, the Batarian turned and marched off. The people that had come out from wherever they were hiding scurried away again. Shepard and the team stayed where they were until Moklan was gone.

"What a fun guy," Naruto said. "What crawled up his ass and died?"

"That's just how Batarians are," Jacob said. "I think they get a hornets nest shoved up their butts at birth." Naruto snickered.

"Let's take a look around the area before we head to Afterlife," Shepard said. "I'm feeling spiteful all of a sudden. I doubt we'll have an easy time here if we piss off its ruler and head into the quarantine zone without permission, but we can make her wait just the same. We need supplies anyway. Any upgrades and weapon mods you think we can use?"

"There might be some good upgrades for our guns here," Jacob said, "though I wouldn't get your hopes up. Omega's known more for it's shady business deals than honest trade."

"Omega has its fair share of _relatively_ legitimate shops," Miranda said. "And then there's the black market where you can get anything from stolen prototype weapons of mass destruction to slaves."

"Slaves," Naruto said. "The hell kind of place is this?"

"This is Omega," Shepard said as she started forward. "Probably the darkest and deepest pit in the galaxy that can still support life. Though," Shepard paused as she regarded one of the residents of the stations, wearing rags, sleeping on one of the support struts for the walls. "It's hard to call this living."

* * *

><p>As the ground team made their way through Omega's Market, which Naruto fondly called a gang of thugs selling junk, they inspected several different shops. Harrot's had a hack module that Shepard found was still in good repair and some kind of ship component at a Quarian's shop. Jacob found some kind of mod that he said would make a shotgun shoot for more damage. Miranda found a biotic amp upgrade that she'd described as 'rare' and 'unobtainable'. Naruto, being himself, found and bought a magazine called Fornax without knowing what it really was until Shepard grabbed it and chucked it over the railing into the depths of the city below. Shepard and the Cerberus operatives couldn't help but feel slightly violated at the deeply disturbing chuckled Naruto made afterwords.<p>

After a few hours of moving through the market, haggling with shop owners, and paying another Quarian's way off the station (for a rather modest discount at his store kiosk), Shepard and the ground crew found themselves in front of one very flashy, very exclusive club. A line had formed in front of the door with an Elcore acting as bouncer.

"I take it this is Afterlife?" Naruto asked. He bent his head back until his neck hurt to look up at the enormous Asari dancing in skintight clothing on a screen that looked to be taller than the Hokage Mountain. "This place is huge!"

"Hey, you!" a Batarian at the door called out. He pointed at Shepard and then jerked his thumb at the door behind him. "Aria's expecting you. You sure took your sweet time."

"Well, it's now or never," Shepard said. She marched forward, the others behind her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," the Batarian at the door said. "Just you, Shepard. The rest of your group can stay out here."

Shepard pulled her hand gun and pointed it at the doorman. "I'm not walking in there alone," she said. "Now move." The doorman was shaking, but didn't move. "Do you really want to be responsible for keeping Aria waiting?"

"Hey, whoa!" the Batarian said, holding up his hands in front of his face. "Yeah, yeah. All of you can go."

Shepard lowered her gun and smiled. "That's better," she said as she walked past the doorman and entered Afterlife's antechamber.

"Couldn't we have asked more nicely?" Naruto asked. "That just seemed kind of mean."

"This is Omega," Miranda said. "If we show any weakness, they'll rob us blind or kill us and take our stuff anyway."

"This still doesn't seem right," Naruto said. "What kind of ruler lets a place get this bad anyway?"

Shepard opened another door on the far wall of the antechamber to reveal a much larger lounge. Two bars were on either side of the round chamber, along with several tables and Asari dancing in various stages of undress on top of said tables. Occupying the center of the room was a large circular stage with a holographic projection above it of the very naked, very well endowed Asari dancing on the stage so that anyone in the entire club could see the evening's 'entertainment'.

"W-Wow! Those are the biggest… Holy shi-" Jacob punched Naruto in the arm. "Ow! What the hell…" Naruto saw that everyone else had moved on toward the back of the lounge. Jacob was giving Naruto a knowing look as he jerked his head in a way that told Naruto they were moving on. "Err, thanks, Jacob."

"Anytime, man," Jacob said with a snicker. Naruto paid the man's jab no attention as he followed slowly behind so he could watch the large projection of what were most certainly largest pair of blue-

"Naruto!"

Naruto jerked out of his reverie by Shepard who was waiting with the others by a set of stairs. He focused himself, silently glad that the helmet he was wearing would hide his flushed face and what he thought was a line of blood leaking from his nose. When he caught up to Shepard she gave him a small glare and then turned to ascend the stairs past a Turian holding an assault rifle.

Naruto had the sense to hold his head down in shame as he followed. It's not like he could help it! They were so… so… big! And Blue! Probably best not to think about it any longer. Stupid Pervy Sage was probably laughing his ass off in the afterlife right now. Or taking notes and giggling like a school girl. Heh, ironic, considering the name of this place.

"That's close enough." The feminine voice drew Naruto away from imagining what his dead Godfather would be doing in his place. He looked up only to find the barrel of a gun shoved into his face. The metal of the gun clinked when it hit the face plate. Shepard was further ahead of Naruto being scanned by a Batarian with an Omni-tool.

"If you're looking for weapons, you're doing a piss poor job of it," Shepard said as she pulled her hand gun out. She didn't point it at anyone, but the bodyguards standing idle reacted by pulling their assault rifles on them. Miranda and Jacob already had their hand guns out and were back to back, surrounded by a circle of gunmen. Naruto noted and was slightly miffed that he was only deemed worthy of having one gun on him. He should have liked to have had three, or ten. Though, considering that the armored Turian had his gun this close to Naruto's face… Naruto decided that arguing the point wouldn't really be worth it.

"They're clean," said the Batarian that did the scan. He took a step back and let Shepard have a unobstructed view of the ruler of Omega, Aria T'Loak. The Asari in question had her back to them as she looked out over the Afterlife Lounge.

"You could have been anyone," Aria said. She turned around and faced Shepard. "Or anything. The reports of your demise were downplayed, but hardly a secret. It's not everyday a dead SPECTRE reappears. I must say, that's some impressive trick."

Aria motioned to the couch as she took a seat on the one behind her. Shepard took a step forward and sat down with her arms stretched out along the back of the couch. "I was told that you were the person to come to if I needed to know something."

"Depends on the questions," Aria said, glaring straight ahead. "And who's asking them."

"So you're the leader of Omega then?"

"Haha," Aria laughed lightly. Then she tilted her head and looked directly at Shepard. "I _am_ Omega." Shepard stared just as hard back at the Asari. "However you want to put it, Queen, Leader, Dictator, it doesn't matter. Omega has no titled ruler and only _one_ rule." Aria smiled sweetly. "Don't fuck with Aria."

"Sounds simple enough," Shepard said. "I have similar rules. It sounds like we both don't like being jerked around."

"That would matter if we were on your ship," Aria said. She straightened her gaze and made a dismissive motion with her hand at Shepard. "So what is it you wish to know?"

"I'm putting a team together. I'm looking for two people here on Omega," Shepard said. "A mercenary that goes by the name Archangel and I need to get into the slums to find Mordin Solus."

"Hah," Aria barked. "You certainly are interesting, Shepard. Archangel has gone to ground. All the merc groups in the Terminus Systems have his head in their targets, and they're all combing Omega to find him. Unless you get lucky, I doubt you'll find him before them. Even I don't know where his secret base is. You're going to make a lot of enemies teaming up with him."

"What did he do to get that kind of attention?"

"He seems to enjoy doing everything he can to piss off the different merc operations around the sector, mainly on and around Omega," Aria said. "But he seems to know enough to stay away from me."

Shepard grinned. If Archangel was this badass, then he'd be perfect for the mission. It took a special kind of hardass to piss off every merc group in the Terminus Systems. "Sounds perfect," Shepard said.

Aria snorted. "As for Mordin, I always liked him," Aria said. "He's as likely to heal you as he is to kill you." Aria smiled at some random memory that flitted behind her half lidded eyes. "Just don't get him started talking. He never shuts up. You can take a shuttle to the Quarantine zone. Good luck convincing the guards to let you in. You won't be let out until after the quarantine is lifted."

Shepard nodded and stood. "Thank you for your help," she said.

"Good luck," Aria said, though her tone was bored and she was still staring lazily into space directly in front of her. Before Shepard could lead her group away from Aria's 'throne room', Naruto stepped forward. All of Arias bodyguards raised their rifles at Naruto, which caused Shepard to whirl around and do the same with her hand gun. Miranda and Jacob followed suit.

"Aria is done speaking with you," the Batarian who'd scanned Shepard said. "Leave. Now."

"I'm not leaving until I find out if Aria knows anything abou-"

"I said leave," the Batarian said. He took a step forward and placed his hand heavily onto Naruto's shoulder. Before the Batarian could do anything, though, Naruto grabbed the arm and hurled the Batarian over his shoulder. The four-eyes of the Batarian were open wide in shock as he sailed over Aria's head and down a level to land on his back on the floor below, the air knocked out of him.

"Fire!" one of the body guards said. The ring of body guards around Naruto started shooting. Shepard was about to start herself, when she noticed that Naruto wasn't in the middle of the circle anymore.

"Where'd he go?" one of the men asked.

"Up here, bozo," Naruto said. They all looked up to the ceiling, where Naruto was standing with his hands on his hips.

"Now you're dead," shouted the body guard. They all raised their weapons to shoot, Shepard did the same. Miranda and Jacob glowed violet with the power of their biotics. Naruto put his hands together into a hand seal.

"Stop!"

"Huh?" Naruto glanced at Aria. "Aw, c'mon! I was gonna kick their asses!"

"Shepard," Aria said. "I didn't know you had Ninja in your squad… again. Lower your weapons. You know what she could do. I get the feeling this one is much more dangerous."

"Aria," one of the body guards said uncertainly. "But we-"

"Are you questioning my orders?" Aria asked quietly. The body guards all silently lowered their weapons. Shepard did the same as the biotic glow left Miranda and Jacob. Naruto lowered his hands, though with extreme reluctance. "What was it you wanted to ask?" Aria asked.

Naruto dropped from the ceiling and flipped in mid-air to land on his feet. He took a few steps toward Aria before he stopped. "I wanted to know if you knew where Uchiha Sasuke or Haruno Sakura was, or if you knew where I could start looking. I'm on a mission to find them and bring them home."

Aria smirked. "She thought you'd come here, looking for her."

"She?" Naruto asked. "Do you mean Sakura?"

"In exchange for help with a little expedition out into the depths of the Terminus Systems," Aria said, "she worked for me for a couple months. Nothing major, just knocked a few heads together, took down a syndicate, child's play really."

Aria stood and walked up to Naruto. She smiled, not unlike a predator smiles at its prey, and released the seal on his helmet. Naruto's cheeks were bulging as he held his breath while Aria removed his helmet.

"She asked me to pass on a couple of messages," Aria said as she grabbed Naruto's armor suddenly and locked her lips onto Naruto's. Naruto's eyes widened comically. A look mirrored on the everyone else in the immediate vicinity. Aria was still smiling when she pulled back, like she'd just caught the canary in her sharp feline fangs.

"Th-that was the message?" Naruto asked, dazed.

"The first part," Aria said, her grip tightening dangerously.

* * *

><p>There was a loud scream that rent the air of Omega. The scream was followed by a crash as an orange blob was sent flying through the wall of Afterlife. That orange blob continued to scream as it sailed across the markets and smashed into the inner wall of the station with a resounding thud. That was the final straw for Naruto, and he popped. The resulting white cloud of chakra smoke quickly dissipated.<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>Naruto!" <em>Shepard shouted over the radio. _"Naruto! Respond, damn it!_"

Naruto, standing in a dark corner of the lower level of Afterlife, grimaced and immediately raised his hand to his ear. "I'm here, Shepard. That was a hell of a punch though."

"_Damn," _Shepard muttered several curses Naruto hadn't heard before under her breath. "_Are you okay? Do you need help? We're on our way to find you now."_

"Don't bother," Naruto said. "I'm nearby the Normandy. I'll just… go back there and recover. My arm's hurt. It's not bleeding or anything, but it does hurt."

"_Damn, that bad, huh?" _Jacob asked. "_Have Doctor Chakwas look at it when you get back."_

"_We'll have to get Doctor Solus without Naruto, Commander,_" Miranda said.

"_Naruto, get patched up,"_ Shepard ordered. _"We'll meet you after the mission._"

"Got it," Naruto said. Then he disabled the radio and downed the rest of his drink. The nice Batarian bartender, who'd given him the drink for free, tilted his head incredulously as Naruto belched, grinned happily as he paid for the drink, and walked off with nary a hitch in his step.

Naruto didn't really like lying to Shepard, but he needed to do his own investigation too. He hoped she would understand. Just to be safe though, he'd left a clone near by the docking ramp that should now be headed back on board. It wouldn't do to make Shepard suspicious when she didn't need to be. He doubted he'd find anything more than what Aria told his clone, but it couldn't hurt to ask around on his own.

Naruto wandered around the lower bar as slowly as he could, trying to pick up on any gossiping drunks or alcohol loosened lips. There were other humans here, but there were also a lot of aliens. Big hulking aliens that his Omni-tool told him were called Krogan.

"Damn Vorcha," Naruto heard one of the Krogan standing nearby say. It was a big, hulking specimen of it species with a large, hard looking, red plate on its head. Its eyes were yellow and like Orochimaru's, vertically slitted. The Krogan waved one of its hands at back door of the club. "The damn things are always stinking up the place. I wish they'd go back to whatever hole the crawled out of."

"They're not as bad as they used to be," the Krogan's buddy said. It was another Krogan with a green plated head and orange eyes. "I hear they used to be more of them than any other thing on the station. Aria's sure cleaned up the place."

"Yeah," the red plated Krogan said. "It sure is nice having Aria in charge. Old Patriarch never got it this good. But still, someone should just vent those damn vermin into space."

"Like that would kill them," the green plated Krogan said with a snort. "Besides, they're just annoying, not like that damned Archangel. Now he's a pain in the quad."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he leaned against the bar with his head down. He'd learned this position from Jiraiya during his training trip. Granted, his godfather usually had a woman, or two or three, hanging off of arms. When the Krogan mentioned Archangel, Naruto forced himself to remain still and listen more carefully.

"I hear Archangel finally pissed off too many merc bosses," the red plated Krogan said. "He attacked Garm, Tarak, and killed Jaroth's top lieutenant recently. I hear they're all hunting for his secret base so they can deal with that bastard once and for all."

"I got something even better than that," the green plated Krogan said with a grin that showed too many rotten teeth. "My cousin is in the Blood Pack. He told me that they just found his base and have him pinned down. They're going to launch and assault on him in a couple of hours."

"I hope they rip him apart," the red plated Krogan growled. He pounded the bar and caused his drink to spill. "That asshole destroyed my shipment of Red Sand and my ship when with it. I just wish I could be there to personally add a hole into the bastard's hide."

The green plated Krogan patted his buddy's hump. "I know what you mean. Several of my shipments of Eezo were confiscated by the C-Sec because of that asshole. But that's not the best part."

"What are you talking about?" the red plated Krogan asked.

"My cousin told me that the merc bosses want to hire as many freelancers as they can for the assault on Archangel," the green plated Krogan said. "We could go sign up and plug him full of holes!"

"I like the sound of that," the red plated Krogan said with a devious grin. "Where do we sign up? I could use a good battle. Especially if Archangel is dead at the end of it."

"They're gonna be recruiting at the transport hub just outside of the club here," the green plated Krogan said. "If we want to get in early, we should go now."

Both Krogan pushed back from the bar and started flexing their arms. They grunted and grumbled, roaring as they psyched up for the battle to come. Then they both quickly charged out the door of the bar. Naruto grinned as he waited a few seconds and then followed. He may not have found anything on his friends, but Shepard was looking for Archangel. Lady luck must still be on his side.

As Naruto exited the club, he found himself confronted by a group of creatures. He scanned them with his Omni-tool. The read out showed him a picture of the creatures standing in front of him and several facts about their species, including that they were Vorcha.

"So these things are called Vorcha," Naruto said quietly. The sheer number of them milling about was a little disturbing, especially considering how ugly and possibly terrifying they might be. Honestly, the only people he knew to have sharpened teeth was Sasuke's friend Suigetsu and that shark guy Kisame. And these Vorcha looked like neither.

Moving as stealthily as he could, Naruto moved closer to the gang of Vorcha in an effort to bypass them and get to the transport hub. Unfortunately, one of the Vorcha saw him and ran up to him with the rest of the gang behind it. It started snarling and spitting at him as soon as it got close enough. "You!" it shouted. It swung it's really nasty clawed hand at him.

"Me?" Naruto asked innocently. Best to act like he belonged. "What about me? I'm just walking this way."

"You tell Captain Gavorn," the Vorcha slobbered, "we no kill no one today!"

"Why would I tell Captain Gavorn anything?" Naruto asked. "Hell, who _is_ Captain Gavorn?"

The Vorcha snarled at him, getting spit all over his armor. Naruto thanked Miranda silently for making him wear the thing. "No tricks!" the Vorcha snarled. "You tell Captain Gavorn! We no kill no one! We leave!"

"Why don't you tell him yourself?" Naruto asked.

"NAHHH!" The vorcha spit and snarled at Naruto more. Then it ran off, quickly followed by the rest of the Vorcha gang. This left the back door to Afterlife clear of any obstacles.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked. He shook it off and continued to the transport hub. There he found the two Krogans who were, if possibly, emulating the fangirls Sasuke alway had following him around. The object of their agressive attention was the Batarian wearing blue armor standing in front of a transport. The Batarian's armor had a white spot at the top of a white circle painted on the chest plate of his armor.

"I already told you," the Batarian said to the Krogan. "We need to wait for a few more freelancers before I make the trip, otherwise it would be a waste. Just hold on. You'll get your chance at that bastard Archangel soon enough."

"Oh, I can't wait," the red plated Krogan said. "When I get him, I'm going to tear him apart."

"You just gonna keep staring kid, or are you coming too?"

Naruto jumped when a man appeared next to him and clamped a hand down on his shoulder. While he mentally berated himself for letting anyone sneak up on him, he glanced over to see who was talking to him. It was a rather tall man wearing yellow armor, though one of his thick, muscular arms was covered in a black mesh material and the other remained bare to show off the numerous tattoos covering every inch. The thing that stood out about the man, though wasn't his tattoos, but his face. It looked like someone had smashed it in and then he healed. The scarring was intense, like nothing Naruto had ever seen before. He blinked and his brain kicked back into gear when he realized that this man, no, warrior, had asked him a question.

"Err… yeah, I'm going," Naruto said.

"Good," the man said. "If you weren't I was gonna kick your ass out of my way. Let's go. We got an angel to kill."

"You the last two?" the blue armored merc asked Naruto and his companion as they approached.

"Yeah. Name's Zaeed Massani," the man said. "I got another job I'm waiting on. Figured I could spend that time getting paid."

"This is the place then," the Batarian said. "What about you kid?"

Naruto grimaced, doing his best impression of a badass, hardcore, warrior as he was able to, and thumbed his nose. "Yeah, I want me some of that Archangel. He pisses me off."

"You and everyone else in the Terminus Systems," the Batarian said. He activated his Omni-tool and waved it over the transport. The top lifted up and the merc got in behind the wheel. Naruto climbed in and sat next to Zaeed while the two Krogan grinned at each other and sat down on Naruto's other side.

As the driver closed the hatch and the transport lifted into the air, Naruto idly wondered if going off into to save Archangel form certain doom alone was a good idea. After thinking over for a few seconds, he shrugged internally and shook his head. Archangel was on Shepard's list and that meant that he was a possible ally. Plus, if he was being targeted by all these merc groups at the same time, then he needed help. Shepard was busy getting that Doctor Solus guy, so it was up to Naruto to get Archangel out of this alive.

* * *

><p>Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob stepped from their transport as soon as it was safe. The edge of the residential district they entered was completely empty with the exception of two Turians standing guard at a door. Both Turians had their assault rifles trained on the new comers.<p>

"You were expecting us," Shepard said. "I'm Commander Shepard."

"Right," one of the Turians said. Both guards lowered their guns. The one who spoke motioned toward the door they were guarding with their head. "Past here is quarantined. Once you go in there, you're not getting out until the plague has passed or your dead body is being carried out."

"We can handle ourselves," Miranda said confidently. "Besides, from what we heard, humans are immune."

"Humans and Vorcha," the second Turian said. "The Blue Suns run this neighborhood. But since the plague hit, Vorcha have moved in and started to take over. It's a war zone right now. Both sides are shooting anything that moves."

"We have to find Mordin Solus," Shepard said. "If he's in there, that's where we are going."

The first Turian guard nodded. "The Doc's clinic is on the far side of the residential district, just before the commercial district and Ventilation Control. I hear he's working on a cure, but I'll believe that when I see it." The two guards turned and raised their assault rifles at the door. The one guard nodded to the other, and they opened the door. Nothing was waiting on the other side, but it couldn't hurt to be careful. As Shepard and her team entered the quarantine zone, one of the guards said, "Good luck," just before the door slammed shut, locked, and powered down.

"Somehow, I get the feeling we're about to have a long stretch of bad luck," Shepard said. "Well, no point standing around here. Let's go find the good doctor."

Before anyone could make a move, they received a page beep from the Normandy. Shepard put a finger to her ear to activate the transmitter implanted there. "Joker, go ahead," she said.

"_Commander, it's Naruto,_" Joker said. He didn't sound panicked, so she reasoned the ninja hadn't gone berserk. No, the helmsman sounded more annoyed. "_He's disappeared. What came back through the airlock was just a clone. We tried tracking him, but he seems to have turned off his transmitter._"

"Naruto has run off," Miranda said. "It figures."

"He's probably trying to find out more about his friends on his own," Jacob said. "Or he's gone to get revenge on Aria. Not sure which is worse though."

"_That isn't all, Shepard,_" EDI said. _"I've completed decrypting the transmissions I detected earlier. It's a varying encryption algorithm of some strength used exclusively by the Eclipse Mercenaries. They've found Archangel, Commander._"

"Shit!" Shepard cursed. "Damn it! We just entered the quarantine zone."

"EDI," Miranda said, "we're stuck in the quarantine zone for the moment. Is there anyway to tell what Archangels' status is? How long we have until we are unable to retrieve him?"

"_According to the transmissions I've intercepted so far,"_ EDI said, "_he has been cornered in his base of operations in a warehouse district on the opposite side of the station from where you currently are. The mercenaries believe they will have him in a couple of hours from now. My own estimate of the situation gives him eight hours before he is too tired to continue fighting and the gathered mercenary armies overwhelm his position."_

"That doesn't leave us a lot of time," Jacob said.

"Why not send Naruto?" Miranda asked.

"We don't even know where he is," Jacob said. "And he turned off his transmitter. We have no way of contacting him."

"That just means we'll have to find Doctor Solus and hope he can cure this plague in the couple hours we have," Shepard said. "EDI. Continue to monitor the transmissions for any change in Archangel's status."

"_Of course, Shepard."_

Shepard armed herself with her sniper rifle and said, "Come on. We don't have a lot of time."

"We have all the time in the world," Miranda said. "Archangel… not so much."

* * *

><p>Naruto grunted as he and the other freelancers stepped from the transport. As soon as they were out, the driver closed the hatch and the vehicle lifted off. They'd been deposited at another transport hub just outside of a bunch of buildings that looked nothing like the market that surrounded Afterlife. These buildings had no windows anywhere and appeared to only have one door.<p>

Further ahead, up some stairs, were several mercs crouching behind a barricade. Every few moments they'd lean over and loose a bunch of shots at some distant for. Just as Batarian wearing more blue armor walked up to Naruto's group, a loud bang rang out and one of the men on the barricade fell backwards, dead.

"Ah, good." Naruto turned away from the commotion further ahead and faced the Batarian that had just walked up to the four of them. "It's about time they sent me someone who looks like they can actually fight…" The Batarian glanced from Zaeed and the two Krogans to Naruto skulking in the shadows behind the taller man. "…well, better than the last group, anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto grumbled. "You wanna fight or something?"

"Heh, I don't get paid to fight freelancers," the Batarian said. He shrugged and added, "I would think you signed up because you wanted a fight."

"We heard Archangel's here," the red plated Krogan said. "Just point me at him. I've got a score to settle with that one."

"I like your attitude, but we have a plan in place." The Batarian threw a thumb over his shoulder at the blockade where several men were leaning out of cover to loose as many bullets as they could before frantically ducking back into cover when the report of a sniper rifle was herd. "Archangel's pinned down at the end of the boulevard over there. He's got superior positioning and the only way in is over a very exposed bridge. It's a killing ground, but we've been at this for almost a day now. He's finally wearing down and we're getting ready to make the final push."

"So you're just throwing us at Archangel hoping to wear him down so you guys can take him out easier?" Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. "Sounds like you guys need to be shown how it's done."

"Heh, whatever you say kid," the Batarian said dismissively. "Archangels been annihilating you freelancers so far. But whatever, just do your jobs and you'll get paid. Easy money. You all will be part of the distraction team. We've got a infiltration team already inside, but they're pinned down, and you need to keep Archangel busy so they can finish him off."

"That's goddamn suicide," Zaeed said. He scowled at the Batarian, but the mercenary just shrugged it off.

"Pretty much," the Batarian said. "But you look like you can handle it…" The Batarian glanced at Naruto and added, "most of you, anyway."

Naruto scowled something fierce but remained silent. In truth, he really didn't care what this guy said about his ability. He wasn't going to nit pick when he'd likely be helping Archangel putting these idiots down later. Everything for now was just an act, though inside, he winced whenever a memory of him actually acting like this when he was younger popped into his mind. He acted like such an idiot.

"Head up to the boulevard and go to the third barricade," the Batarian instructed. "Talk to Sergeant Cathka. He's in charge of the freelancers."

The Batarian turned and left. The two Krogan grinned at each other, pulled out shotguns, and trundled off toward the barricade. Naruto bowed his head as he moved forward slowly in thought.

"Hey, kid."

Naruto looked up to see Zaeed giving him a curious stare with his one eye. "Yeah?" They were both alone in the street. Just Naruto and Zaeed.

"Just what the hell are you doing here?" Zaeed asked. "You aren't a merc, but I can tell you got some fight in ya. You don't have any guns except that pea-shooter, so you aren't going to last half a second once you get onto that bridge. And drop the act, I've seen better. I can tell, you're not here to kill Archangel."

Naruto swallowed. "I…" Zaeed continued to glare at him for a full five seconds of silence. Naruto lowered his head and said, "No, I'm not."

"Heh," Zaeed shook his head. "Good." Naruto blinked and looked up confused. "I'll let you in on a little secret," Zaeed said. "I don't give a shit about Archangel. I figure he has the right idea, killing mercs. And since Archangels gained so much attention, he's drawing all the bloody bastards to him. I came here to do a little gutter cleaning. That's why I'm here. What are you doing here?"

Naruto regarded Zaeed guardedly as he wondered whether telling him about Shepard was a good idea or a bad one. Well, the man had already figured him out, so it was no use trying to play that angle with him anymore. Especially if he was telling the truth about his own desires to off mercs. On the off chance that Zaeed was lying and trying to get Naruto to confess to something that would get him killed, it would probably be best to play it safe and give a similar reason. Besides, killing these mercs and saving Archangel were practically the same thing at this point.

"I've got a score to settle with these guys," Naruto said. "I really don't care about Archangel either. But I figure if he's got it out for these morons, I might as well give him some help. It gets me to my goal either way."

"Nice," Zaeed said. "I think I like you kid. But you really don't know the first thing about fighting a battle if all you brought is a hand gun." Zaeed narrowed his eye for a moment, considering something, and then shook his head in dismissal. "Come on, let's see if we can find you some proper weapons so you won't go dying too soon. Then we'll have to figure out how to 'help' get rid of these mercs."

Naruto smirked. "Sounds like a good idea to me. The more dead mercs, the better." Especially because that means Archangel is more likely to survive.

* * *

><p>Shepard quickly leaned out of cover and immediately felt her senses tingling. Everything seemed to slow down as she brought the cross hairs of her scope over the unsuspecting head of the Turian Blue Sun's mercenary standing guard outside the door to the next section of the slums. With a small exhale of breath, she squeezed the trigger. The Turian's head exploded into a fine blue mist as his body slumped to the ground.<p>

The Turian's buddies, a couple humans and another Turian, all part of the Blue Suns, immediately started to shoot back, wildly spraying the former dining area with assault rifle fire. By that time, though, Shepard was already back in cover and Miranda had sent a blast of biotic energy at them.

The biotic wave knocked them back and disoriented them as Jacob took that opportunity to launch a container of flammable gas at them. Shepard counted to two, leaned out, and shot the container just as it reached them mercs. The resulting explosion took the group of Blue Suns out completely, removing armor and the body parts underneath in a grand ball of fire.

"All clear," Miranda said as she peaked out from her cover. She stood up and nodded at Shepard, who also had just stood. "That was good thinking Jacob."

"I thought so too," Jacob said. The three of them moved forward, keeping their guns ready to shoot at any mercs that might appear. "Though I don't think that there should have been enough cooking fuel in there to cause that large of an explosion."

The three came to the area where the explosion had occurred and noted the remains of several gas canisters. "I guess that explains the size," Shepard said. "Come on, let's keep moving. We don't have a lot of time." As they moved past the carnage, Miranda leveled her hand gun at one of the merc's bodies and shot him in the head.

Shepard checked the chronometer on her Omni-tool and grimaced. It had taken the three of them a little over an hour just to reach this far. It was a good thing that the clinic was just past this section of the residential district of the slums, but she couldn't help but worry that they might just not make it to Archangel in time.

As they opened the door to the next sector of the slums, the sounds of an intense gun battle reached their ears. Shepard silently motioned forward with her head and then raised her sniper rifle and took point. As she moved, she noted that she had maybe six shots left before she'd have to resort to smaller weapons. She really missed her old HMWSR X, but that got blown to bits with the original Normandy. Beggars can't be choosers, but it seemed a bit ridiculous that with all of Cerberus' resources, they couldn't get a copy of that gun for her to use.

As they neared the source of the sounds, they discovered a set of stairs leading up. Shepard considered that if the firefight that was currently taking places just a few feet from where they stood got any more intense, it might be a good idea to have a better vantage point. Besides, it sounded like the side closer to her and the Cerberus Agents was losing.

They found a large and spacious balcony overlooking the battle at the top of the stairs. On the far side of the balcony was another set of stairs leading back down a floor, straight into the line of fire of the Blue Suns and the multitude of Vorcha that seemed to be growing in number despite the inordinate amount of dead bodies piled up around them.

"Seems like we reached the front line," Miranda noted as she and the others took cover behind the balcony railing. "We should let them fight it out to thin their numbers before we try to move past here."

"Waiting here and conserving our ammo might work for us, but that won't cure the plague or save Archangel," Shepard said. "Besides, I don't think the Blue Suns are going to last much longer. The Vorcha are calling in reinforcements."

"And we took out any back up the Blue Suns had getting here," Jacob said.

"Commander," Miranda said, "We don't have the resources for a prolonged battle."

"We won't last much longer with the thermal clips we have left," Jacob said. "I'm almost out as it is."

"And our biotics aren't infallible," Miranda said. "I may have impressive abilities, and Jacob is no slouch, but their numbers alone would overwhelm us before we even tired out."

"Well, if we can't take them out directly, we just have to come in from the side," Shepard said. She chanced a quick glance over the railing and quickly took note of the layout of the room below. Directly below the balcony they were hiding on was the last of the barricaded Blue Suns. They were firing across the clearing to another barricade behind which dozens of Vorcha were massing. Both sides were shooting at each other with grenades, missiles, sub-machine guns, sniper rifles, hand guns, flame throwers, and assault rifles with the odd shot gun going off every now and then. There really wasn't any place to hide between the two barricades, meaning that it had become a killing ground. The Blue Suns had more skill and thermal clips, as evident from the contrast between the different number of fighters on each side. There was probably eight Vorcha for ever Blue Suns mercenary. But the Vorcha had more fights coming in all the time to fill in any holes left by those killed by the Blue Suns.

"Where are they getting their numbers?" Miranda asked. "If the Vorcha had this many of their kind they could have taken over the station already."

"It's likely that they've been directed to gather as much of the station's Vorcha here for this push," Jacob said. "But…"

"By who?" Miranda ashed, finishing Jacob's statement.

"Well, I have an idea that just might work," Shepard said. "Sasuke came up with it on Ferros to combat the masses of Thorian Thralls. It'll take some set up, though, and I'll need cover when the Blue Suns are finished."

"We got your back, Shepard," Jacob said.

"Just give the word, Commander," Miranda said.

Shepard nodded and reached into her leg pouch. She pulled out several grenades and a length of wire and began to string the wire through the grenades where she could. Just then, the last of the Blue Sun's fell to the ground dead.

"Show time," Shepard said as she stood up and ran. Miranda and Jacob also popped up, giving Shepard covering fire.

* * *

><p>Naruto collapsed the assault rifle Zaeed had pilfered from the Eclipse armory and attached it over his shoulder like Zaeed had. He didn't plan on using it, but if it made the man happy, why not wear the extra ornament. Besides, Zaeed seemed to really like the rifle he'd found, called it "Jessy's nasty older sister" or something. Not like Naruto understood anything the old guy was talking about half they time anyway.<p>

The building that the Eclipse were using exited onto the boulevard behind the second barricade. Just as Naruto stepped foot from the building, a sniper rifle shot was heard. The head of the man who stood closest to Naruto on the barricade exploded in a shower of gore and pink blood spray.

Naruto watched the brutal display with his eyes open wide in surprise. That could have been his head. With quick, measured steps, Naruto crossed the boulevard to the shelter on the other side of the barricade running across the open street. Zaeed didn't pay the mess that used to be a living being any mind as he walked right through as if nothing were wrong.

As they approached the third barricade, a man motioned for them to stop next to him. He was wearing a lot of armor, but otherwise looked healthy enough, unlike the dead guy on the ground next to him.

"You Sergeant Cathka?" Zaeed asked.

"No," the human said. He nodded across the boulovard, passed the third barricade, at a gunship with several ugly men and the two Krogan standing around it. "He's over there. Go if you want, but I'm staying here."

"Bloody coward," Zaeed said as he turned and marched steadily across the street, ignoring the bullets that whizzed past his head as he went.

"Say what you want, but I'm not crazy enough to attempt to take that bridge," the man said, mostly to Naruto since Zaeed had gone to far to hear.

Naruto kept his head down as he crossed behind the barricade and quickly arrived on the other side. When he arrived, he saw Zaeed talking to one of the men who looked like he'd been there a while. Behind the gunship, a shower of sparks fell to the floor.

"So what's the deal?" Zaeed asked. "We going in now or not?"

"Sergeant Cathka says they have some sort of plan that they're waiting on," said the man closed to Zaeed. "We're just waiting for the order to jump over the barricade and storm the place. Heh. Easiest pay I ever earned."

"Right…" Zaeed quietly turned and moved off to a darker corner. Naruto followed him slowly, so he didn't seem suspicious. When he got close enough, Zaeed said, "We'll go over last, start taking out the others and hope that this Archangel guy gets the idea we're on his side. But that gunship is gonna give us a hell of a run if it ever gets airborne. Those guys said Archangel blew out its engines, but once it's repaired, I doubt they'll give him another opportunity to do so again."

"Why not disable it now, before we go over?" Naruto asked. "Or steal it when it's done being fixed."

"Because there's too many people," Zaeed said as if it were the most obvious reason in the world. "Kid, I get that you want some action, but how far are you really willing to go with this?"

"I'll hold up my end of the fighting," Naruto said.

"Check!" Both Naruto and Zaeed looked over to the Batarian that came out from behind the gunship. "Distraction team. Go Go Go!"

"That's us," Zaeed said as he pulled out his assault rifle and grinned. "Try not to die, kid. Give 'em hell if you do."

"Same to you, old timer," Naruto said. Zaeed snorted and moved to follow the slew of freelancer mercenaries rushing the third barricade and the bridge beyond. The number of shots fired increased dramatically as the number of targets increased.

Before he followed, Naruto put his hands together and quietly said, "Shadow Clone Justu!" Five clones appeared. Naruto nodded to them and said, "You know what to do."

"Yes boss," they said before vanishing with a Body Flicker jump. Naruto pulled out a Kunai and ran full tilt at the barricade. Just as Zaeed landed on the other side of the bridge and began to take out all the mercs that had gone ahead of him, Naruto jumped and flipped over the barricade. Zaeed concentrated on putting bullets into the back of the freelancers heads while Naruto made due with sticking his kunai into them.

* * *

><p>When Archangel saw the last merc start shooting the others in front of him, and then what could only be a ninja, jump over the barricade and start helping the last merc, he could only smirk. He didn't know if it was Sasuke or Sakura hiding inside that armor, but he was glad for the help. And it appeared that they had the help of whoever that other guy was. The old guy didn't look so great, but the man was putting people down as fast as he was from his sniper's perch.<p>

Best bet: protect the ninja and their mercenary partner from his vantage point. He quickly aimed his heavily modified HMWSR V and took out the barricade defender about to open fire on his two new allies. The barricade defender's partner quickly ducked back down when he tried to shoot him too.

Despite having back up, finally, Archangel really didn't feel all that relieved. Yeah, he had more hope for getting out, finally, but at the same time, a foreboding feeling had settled over him. Everything had gone to hell, so while he was tempting fate by wondering how it could get worse, he smiled and took aim again. If it got worse, he'd just shoot it till it died.

* * *

><p>Mordin Solus, professor of biological technology and former Salarian Special Tasks Group member, now retired, stood in front of a computer console deep inside his makeshift clinic. Behind the holographic interface of the console was a table, upon which a sick Batarian lay. The computer displayed several self updating charts and scan results from the Batarian plague victim on the table.<p>

After staring at the read out for several minutes, Mordin's eyes widened and he nodded. Then the computer beeped, indicating that it had finished analyzing the plague and had calculated a cure, mirroring the conclusion that Mordin had come to moments before. "Cenozine _was_ the catalyst," Mordin said as he activated his Omni-tool and initiated the minifacturing device behind him and set the newly calculated cure as the base pattern. "Bonds to genetic markers. Hard to find. Addition of ninja chakra as stabilizing element curious, indicative of high end biological engineering capacity."

As the heavy machine behind him began to hum, Mordin applied a basic Medi-gel to the Batarian. The Batarian's pained groans lessened somewhat. "Cure will be ready soon," Mordin said. "Rest easy."

"Thank you," the Batarian rasped. His breathing was shallow, but his condition was otherwise stable.

Mordin turned away and began to pace. "Why Cenozine? Expensive to mass produce. Heplacore cheaper. No, too unstable. Inconsistent. Demozane better. No, toxic to humans. Resists chakra. Not an option. Not an-" The ground suddenly shook, stacked crates along the wall fell over, and some intruments and equipment fell to the floor from tables. Mordin narrowed his eyes as the lights flickered and then full power came back. "Explosion. High power. Likely one large or several small. Close to entrance. Should investigate. Cure needs time to accumulate. Time enough to deal with possible threat."

"Doctor!" Mordin looked up just as the man who volunteered to lead his security mechs ran up to him. "Doctor Solus, the plaza outside the clinic just went up in a giant explosion. I don't know what caused it, but all the Vorcha and Blue Suns that were fighting out there are gone."

Mordin tilted his head in thought. Gripping the Carnifax Hand-cannon he'd pilfered from one of the Blue Suns he'd dealt with earlier, he started moving toward the entrance to investigate. "Possible large scale weapon of last resort. Vorcha unsophisticated enough to handle or produce. Blue Suns getting desperate. Should take extreme caution." Just before Mordin opened the door of the clinic, he turned around and addressed the man helping with security. "Prepare mechs. Could be anything."

"Ahh… yes! Of course, Doctor Solus." Mordin smiled as the man ran off to activate more mechs. The Salarian doctor turned and opened the clinic's front door. Smoke filled the corridor, but it was slowly clearing away as the ventilation systems of Omega did their job.

Slowly, and with great caution, Mordin stalked into the plaza outside. The further he went, the thicker the smoke was. When he got to the main thoroughfare, he paused to both get over his shock and to analyze the level of chaotic destruction.

_Pattern of destruction indicated several small explosive devices rigged to explode at the same time. Reinforced explosion multiplied force for devastating effect against the Vorcha and the Blue Suns. Both sides appeared to be decimated. _Mordin narrowed his eyes as he took in the rest of the area. The barricades of both sides were mere scrap metal now. Fire still burned from several of the broken wall panels, the ceiling, and the small craters carved into the flooring where the small explosive devices were placed.

"Impressive," Mordin whispered to himself. "Though confusing. Vorcha and Blue Suns fighting here almost constant. Would have had to traverse unsafe terrain while holding off Vorcha and Blue Suns."

"Damn, Shepard." Mordin fell silent and hid behind a broken piece of the ceiling that was just large enough to conceal his form. "I've never seen grenades used like that before. I'll have to remember that the next time I'm up against overwhelming numbers."

_Grenades? Yes, possible. High-explosive grenades rigged to explode simultaneously._ Mordin nodded as he easily could see this much, if not more, damage being dealt by such a tactic. _Very clever. Must have been using any of fifteen stealth techniques to plant grenades._

"Sasuke's version was a bit more powerful. And it involved a giant flaming dragon, if that helps." Mordin tilted his head to the side as he noted the difference in pitch. _Most likely human. Female and male. High-explosive grenades indicate training. Likely more mercs. Destruction of Blue Suns indicate loyalty to another group. Threat level indeterminable. Need more data._

"Come on, Mordin's clinic is just ahead."

_Another female. Pitch and frequency of voice point toward another human female. Three in total. Squad tactics._ Mordin nodded. _Seem to be here for me. Should confront them here. Best to keep violence out of clinic._

Mordin casually stood from his cover and level his hand-cannon at the three people just now making their way toward his cover. The three of them didn't notice him at firs, so he give them a warning shot by their feet. Now they were paying attention.

"State names and intentions," Mordin said succinctly. _Humans. Three of them. Armored. Well equipped. Not refugees. No mercenary symbols. Quarantine not yet lifted. Here for something else. Looking for clinic, not battle, Vorcha, or Blue Suns. Possible investigation into plague as bio-weapon? No, not enough data equipment. Soldiers, not scientists. Hired guns. Maybe. For who?_

The red haired woman standing at the front of the group raised her hands in the universal human sigh of peace and submission. "Relax pal," the woman said. "I'm Commander Shepard. Were here looking for Mordin Solus. He's curing the plague and runs the clinic not far from here."

Mordin tilted his head as he consumed this knowledge and added it to his earlier assumptions. As he contemplated what that meant, he kept the hand-cannon trained on them with a steady hand. After a few moments, he said, "No longer need to find Mordin Solus. I am he. Why were you looking for me? Not scientists, not mercs. Possibly hired guns looking to make a hit. But not hired by Blue Suns or Vorcha. Targeted me directly. Referenced the plague. Possibly here to confiscate cure, research, or force stop of cure efforts. Could be here to-"

"Relax, Mordin," Shepard said. "We're here to recruit you for a critical mission. We could really use your expertise."

Mordin's eyes widened in surprise. This was one result he hadn't foreseen. "What mission?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him for a moment. Then he shook his head. "No, no. Plague still spreading too fast. Clinic understaffed. Cannot leave." Mordin lowered his gun and left.

Shepard glanced at her companions before she moved to catch up to the retreating doctor. Mordin ignored the three humans and re-entered the clinic. He waved the security mechs down, letting them know it was not a threat and continued on his way.

"We're on a mission to stop the Collectors," Shepard said when she caught up to him. "We need your help to develop a counter to their technology."

Mordin stopped moving toward his lab at the back of the clinic. Several of his patients sitting or lying around the waiting room of the clinic glanced at him, but remained otherwise silent. "Collectors," he said. "Interesting. Plague hitting these slums is engineered. Collectors one of few groups with technology to design it. Our goals may not be so different. But! Must stop plague first. Already have cure, just need to disperse into ventilation systems. Vorcha guarding it." Mordin nodded. "Need to kill them."

"Great, so you have cured it." Mordin glanced at the man and woman behind Shepard. He blinked only once at the Cerberus insignia on their uniforms. _Interesting. Cerberus logo. Not reflected on Commanding officer. Likely liaisons._ "Shepard, we don't have much time before Archangel is overrun."

"I know," Shepard said. "Doctor. You said the clinic is understaffed. Let us take the cure to the ventilation system and disperse it into the air while you stay here and help as best you can."

"Hmm, yes," Mordin nodded. "A sound plan. Best use of personnel and their abilities. Come. Cure should be finished accumulating."

At that exact moment, there was a loud clunk from the ceiling followed by all the lights going out. Those in the clinic began to panic, someone screamed, then the red emergency power lights came to life.

"Not good," Mordin said. He activated his Omni-tool and scanned the data streaming by. "Vorcha de-activated environmental controls. Dispersion of cure via air ducts impossible until repaired."

"This day just gets better and better," Shepard said. "Come on, Doctor, we need that cure before we can take care of the Vorcha."

"Right." Mordin nodded. He walked into his lab and began to extract the container holding the cure from the minifacturing unit. "Also, should mention. Daniel, assistant, went to help refugees in Vorcha controlled territory. Hasn't come back yet."

"We'll keep an eye out," Shepard said as she took the container full of the cure. It looked like a brownish-red liquid through the transparent casing, but in the red of the emergency lights, everything seemed to have a red tint to it. "Thank you Professor. We'll be back shortly."

"Good luck," Mordin said.

* * *

><p>Naruto flipped over the head of the last guy between him and the second floor chamber where Archangel was. This one had been a particular pain in the ass during his and Zaeed's journey through Archangel's base. The entire time this jerk had been tossing grenades and shooting missiles at them.<p>

As soon as Naruto landed behind the man wearing Blue Sun's armor, Naruto kicked him. With the added punch of chakra enhanced muscles, the man was launched all the way to the other end of the short hallway where Zaeed was standing. Zaeed had to lean back to keep from being knocked over. When the Blue Suns merc had past, Zaeed calmly leveled his gun at the man and blew some extra holes into this head.

"I gotta say," Zaeed said. "I wasn't expecting much from you. But you've been bloody brilliant."

"Heh," Naruto grinned and nodded confidently. "That's cause I'm awesome!"

As Zaeed strode past Naruto, he bopped him on the head. "Don't shove your head too far up your arse. There's still more fighting to be done. C'mon. Archangel is through here."

Zaeed paused just before he opened the door. He took a moment to regard the door with uncertainty. Then, with a shrug, knocked. The door's activation panel went from red to green.

"How nice," Zaeed said, "he's inviting us in."

Zaeed palmed the panel and the door opened to reveal a Turian wearing full body armor holding two assault rifles. One was pointed at Zaeed's head and the other at Naruto's. Zaeed responded by crossing his arms and giving the Turian a look that conveyed "really?", while Naruto just stood where he was without making a move. He'd found, since arriving, that sudden moves made people's trigger fingers itchy.

"While it's nice to have some help," Archangel said, "I don't know if I can really trust you. I appreciate the help with the mercs, but I did have everything under control."

"Under control?" Zaeed asked incredulously. "You mean you wanted them to set that bomb off underneath your little perch there?"

"Like I said," Archangel said to Zaeed. "Thanks for the help. I was working on something to take care of that when you two appeared. Now…" Archangel faced Naruto. "I know you're a ninja. I know only two ninja who you could be, but you fight like neither. In fact, you fight like the only ninja I know who I've killed five times. Please, take off your helmet so I can see who you are. If you really are Sasuke or Sakura, please forgive me. I'm sure you understand."

Naruto swallowed loudly. This Archangel guy must have met him when he was indoctrinated. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Archangel would do when he found out that it really wasn't Sasuke or Sakura. And if he didn't comply and take his helmet off, he'd probably get shot anyway.

With a grunt, Naruto decided that he'd just roll with the punches… or bullets. Whichever came his way. He reached up and released the seal for his helmet. The seal came undone with a his and he slowly lifted the helmet up and off of his head, but held his breath. Maybe… maybe if Archangel didn't shoot him, he could put his helmet back on and breath the relatively clean air again instead of the crap that Omega had. As the helmet cleared his eyes, he saw that Archangel was much closer than he was and the assault rifle he was holding to his head was now shaking.

"So…" Archangel said, "you really don't know how to stay dead. I would have thought blowing Sovereign up with you inside of it would have done the job. But of course not." Archangel sounded almost hysterical as he moved closer and shoved the barrel of the rifle against Naruto's forehead right between his eyes. "No, no, of course not. Bullets don't kill you. Vacuum doesn't kill you. Exploding Reapers probably wouldn't kill you either."

Naruto wanted to look away or turn away. But the urge to hide his shame was overpowered by the urge to not piss off the guy with an assault rifle to his head. Naruto couldn't really look into Archangel's eyes, since he was wearing a helmet, so instead he closed his eyes. Maybe he deserved this guy's anger if he was on Shepard's-Shepard!

"I'm here with Shepard," Naruto said. Archangel jerked the assault rifle and Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the worst. He'd seen people's heads explode from gun fire and he was hoping that he wouldn't be aware enough to feel it happening to himself.

"What did you say?" Archangel asked. More like whispered.

"I'm here with Commander Shepard," Naruto said. He opened his eyes and gave Archangel his most serious of serious expressions. It always seemed to get his point across to all the other enemies he'd talked down. Well, the ones who could be talked down. "I joined her on a mission to stop the Collectors who are abducting humans from colonies in the Terminus Systems. She's putting together a team and as far as I'm aware, you're on the list."

"Well whaddya know," Zaeed said. "Now isn't that a coincidence. Shepard's the contact for my next mission."

"Shepard is dead," Archangel said. He pushed the assault rifle harder against Naruto's skull until it began to hurt. "She died two years ago. And unlike you, she can't come back to life from being blown up with a ship."

Naruto frowned. "No, I was just with her a couple hours ago. I don't know how, but it was something Cerberus did."

"Cerberus?" Naruto winced from the pressure being put on his head. It felt like if he pushed any harder, Archangel would put his gun through his head without the use of bullets. "What does Cerberus have to do with this? They're a splinter-"

"We don't have time for this shit," Zaeed announced. He pulled a sniper rifle from behind his back and expanded it to look through the scope. "I think they've realized their infiltration squad didn't work. They're sending mechs over the wall." Zaeed pulled the trigger and the sound of a mech's head exploding waved over to the three. "One less now."

Archangel looked over his shoulder and then back to Naruto. "I don't have time to deal with you," the Turian said. "Just tell me why you haven't actually tried to kill me yet? I don't really think I'll believe you, but if Shepard really is alive, then maybe she'll have some answers."

"I'm not indoctrinated anymore," Naruto said. "Sasuke saved me. And yeah, Shepard can vouch for me. Seems no one will believe me anyway."

"A little help over here?" Zaeed said from his cover behind the railing of the balcony overlooking the bridge.

Archangel looked back and forth between Naruto and the balcony. For a moment he pushed the rifle harder into Naruto's head. Then the pressure was gone and Naruto was left blinking in surprise.

"If you make me regret this decision," Archangel said, "then you can be sure I'll plug you with more holes than you can heal."

"Uh…" Naruto rubbed his head and for the first time realized he was breathing the crappy air of Omega unfiltered. Only it wasn't that bad here. Pushing that epiphany to the side, Naruto nodded, though only to himself because Zaeed and Archangel were both shooting down at the bridge like crazy. "Right," Naruto said. "Prove I'm not a threat to Archangel. Challenge accepted. Time to show these mercs who's boss!"

Naruto ran toward the balcony and jumped. Archangel had spun around, his gun ready to shoot. Then he watched like a statue as Naruto sailed right past him and Zaeed, over the balcony, and flipped midair to land on the bridge amid the LOKI mechs stumbling forward in their mechanical fashion. Legs spread, hands in the ready position, Naruto shouted and charged forward.

The mechs didn't stand a chance. One moment he was kicking the head off of a mech's body, only to grab the mech's headless body and toss it at another mech. While the first mech's body was still in the air, Naruto launched himself at another one shooting up at the balcony and used his kunai with a little bit of wind chakra to cut its arm off. The arm hadn't a chance to hit the ground before Naruto spun around and sliced the mech's head off. A quick kick to the headless, armless mech's chest, sent it careening through the air to smash into another mech. All four mechs thus attacked fell to the ground at the same time.

"Bloody hell," Zaeed said as he watched from the relative safety of the balcony. "The kid's got some nice moves. How the hell is he doing all that damage with only a goddamn knife?"

"He's a ninja," Archangel said sagely. "It's what they do." He quickly brought his HMWSR V up to his eye and took out one of the Eclipse about to vault over the barricade to join the fight with the what was left of the mechs. "Now the fun begins," Archangel said.

"Now we're talking," Zaeed said as he brought his own sniper rifle to bear.

Naruto dodged another mech's clumsy attempt at shooting him and gave it a good punch to the face. He let off another disappointed sigh. These mechs were barely good enough to be called punching bags. Who in their right mind would use these things to fight their battles. They were too slow and so flimsy.

"Freelancer scum!" Naruto paused after launching the last mech with a kick off into the side of a building some yards away. He kept his leg extended as he looked to the barricade and saw what looked like a woman lining up a large tube at him. Before he could figure out what she was doing with the tube, a bright blue missile shot from it and made a beeline straight for him.

Naruto's eyes widened. He quickly crouched down and jumped, doing a back flip right over the missile, which veered off after missing and futilely smashed into a wall. When he looked back at the barricade, more mercs in yellow armor had joined the first and were advancing on him.

From the balcony, Naruto heard a pair of shots go off and in front of him two people holding hand guns fell as their heads exploded. Jerked out of inaction, Naruto gripped his kunai tighter and charged forward. He ran up to one of the mercs shooting a constant stream of bullets at him, running diagonally until he came up to the man, ducked under his feeble attempt at punching him, and buried his kunai into the man's head through his chin. With wind chakra laced into the blade, it was as if the armor didn't even exist.

Then Naruto's kinetic barriers began to take hits as two mercs on either side of him unleashed their own streams of bullets. Naruto leaped backwards just as his shields went down. Just before he landed behind a waist high wall directly below the balcony, Naruto tossed the kunai he was holding straight at the woman who'd shot the missile at him.

The kunai flew straight and true, right into the woman's face. Then the tag attached to the ring of the kunai started to smolder. Two mercs more mercs had the bad timing to jump over the wall and land on either side of the dead woman just as the exploding tag went off. Two more bodies were added to the pile on the bridge.

While Naruto waited for his shields to recharge, he glanced over cover to see what was happening. Above him, Zaeed and Archangel were both sniping the Eclipse mercs as they came over the bridge. Those that weren't sniped right away, took cover behind some bridge supports where they leaned out to take pot shots at the balcony and Naruto.

Just as the mercs were thinning out, roughly a dozen more began to stream over the barricade. They pushed through the bridge faster than Archangel or Zaeed could take them out and were making to enter the base. Instead, they got a face full of Naruto Shadow Clones.

Before any of the mercs could make heads or tales of how there were more people fighting for Archangel than there were attacking him, Zaeed and Archangel had switched to assault rifles and were spraying down into the crowd behind held just outside of Archangels base by the seemingly never ending wall of clones. It didn't matter how many of them the mercs took out, another one just magically popped into existence to take up the slack.

The siege lasted for just a few seconds over all, but eventually, all that was left were Naruto clones and a bunch of dead mercs. Archangel kept shooting. In short order he'd slain all the clones.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted up from below. "Why'd you do that?"

"Old habit," Archangel shouted down. "I'm sure you understand."

"Old habit my ass," Naruto grumbled. He fell silent when a huge mech was flown and dropped on the bridge. "Shit," Naruto cursed, "not another one of those things."

"Heads up," Archangel shouted. "Heavy mech being deployed."

Zaeed chuckled and said, "That problem should take care of itself, mate."

Naruto's shields were long recovered by this time. He was about to jump from behind the low wall and charge the mech when he noticed another wave of mercs jumping over the barricade. He cursed as the mechs started firing on him and ducked back into cover. And then he popped back up again when those same mechs started screaming in terror combined with the sound of the YMIR mech's missiles exploding and heavy machine gun going off in a constant stream.

The wave of Eclipse mercs quickly dwindled under the fire and then a third wave came over the barricade. This one was full of mercs toting hand guns and missile launchers. They focused their fire on the YMIR as soon as they had their weapons up, and it wasn't long until it was on its last leg.

Just as the Mech fell over, a Salarian hopped over the barricade. He and his remaining men from the third wave began shooting at Naruto and up at the balcony. Archangel brought up the holographic interface on his HMWSR V and activated the armor-piercing mode. A yellow set of holographic attachments came to life on the long barrel of the rifle as Archangel quickly leaned out of cover and aimed.

Archangel took the shot and for a moment, Jaroth thought he'd been shot. The Salarian patted himself down in the few seconds of time it took him to recognized the high pitched beeping noise. Slowly, Jaroth and the last wave of the Eclipse attack on Archangel turned to face the YMIR mech as it gave off the warning siren of a breached fusion reactor core.

Unlike the doomed Eclipse mercs, Naruto recognized the noise from his time on Freedom's Progress. The young ninja immediately dashed away from the cover he'd been hiding behind, waiting for a moment to leap into the fray. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, which was pretty darn fast when chakra enhanced one's muscles, and only barely escaped the shock wave of the fusion bomb that went off. As it was, his back felt like he'd been laying out in the sun for too long.

"Hot damn," Naruto heard Zaeed say from above. "That blast took out the whole goddamn bridge._"_

Naruto peeked out at where the bridge used to be and quickly noted the smoldering piles of molten metal and whatever the floor was made out of. There was now a large gap between the base and the boulevard. The barricade was gone, along with whoever might have been on it at the time of the blast.

Naruto made his way back up to the second floor. He felt strangely hollow as he entered the room with Archangel and Zaeed. Of course, the odd feeling went away when the barrel of a hand gun was put against his head.

"This again?" Naruto groaned.

"We both know you're good at lying," Archangel said. "Or need I remind you of the stunt you pulled on Noveria. You nearly killed Sakura and you did break several of my ribs, my arm, my legs, and several of my vertebra were crushed."

"Damn it!" Naruto shouted. He snarled as he fumed at Archangel. "How the hell am I supposed to prove I'm not going to stab anyone in the back if you won't give me a chance! I swear," Naruto shouted, "I'm not going to hurt you! I'm not lying! I'm not indoctrinated! I'm not this evil asshole all of you people seem to remember handing your asses to you!" Naruto didn't really care if Archangel believed him or not at this point. He'd had it up to his neck with this mistrustful crap. Sure, he understood, but they weren't even giving him a chance. "Have I done anything to hurt you here? Have I done anything to help those jerks trying to kill you? Hell, I can't even remember being in this galaxy! Why the hell would I want to kill you?"

"Do you think shooting off at the mouth is going to make me sympathize with your plight?" Archangel asked. He lifted his hand gun and slowly started to squeeze the trigger. "Think agai-"

A loud boom shook the building, causing Archangels hand to tilt up just before he pulled the trigger, missing Naruto's head my millimeters. Archangel cursed and activated his Omni-tool. "They've penetrated the tunnels," he said and then cursed under his breath. "I suppose they had to start using their heads eventually."

Seconds later, the glass at the end of the room was destroyed as a man wearing the Blue Suns armor crashed right through it. Archangel and Zaeed turned and shot the man dead before he could so much as lift his sub-machine gun to fire, but more and more blue suns were beginning to repel down the side of the building.

"Someone needs to go down and seal off the lower levels," Archangel shouted. "If we don't we'll be overrun."

"Just hold them off while I take care of it," Naruto shouted as he vaulted over the railing of the balcony overlooking the interior of the building and made a bee line for the basement entrance. Behind him, he felt and heard several explosions go off as Archangel and Zaeed began repelling the invading Blue Suns. "I just hope I know what I'm doing," Naruto grunted as he got to the door and dashed through to the lower levels.

* * *

><p>Not for the first time in her life, Shepard wondered exactly what it was she did to deserve situations like the one she was in right now. They'd found Daniel alright. He was at the environmental controls, pinned down by a veritable hoard of Vorcha.<p>

Getting to Daniel was the easy, for the most part. The Vorcha launching missiles and shooting were all facing Daniel. Shepard and the Cerberus operatives merely needed to put holes in the backs of all the heads of the Vorcha attacking.

Getting out would be more difficult. After Shepard had led her team in to where Daniel was hiding behind one of the environmental control consoles, more Vorcha appeared. And this time, they brought Krogan, rockets, and grenade launchers. To say that the Environmental Control Center was a battleground was like comparing a desert to hell. The place was in total chaos.

"I don't know how we're going to get out of this, Shepard," Miranda said from behind one of the consoles as she reloaded. "We're running low on thermal clips. They, on the other hand, don't seem to have any problem throwing more bodies at us."

"I don't think we'll be able to disperse the cure now either," Jacob said. He reached out and biotically lifted a Krogan into the air. As the flailing Krogan sailed higher, Jacob launched a strong biotic push. The Krogan was quickly sent sailing through the air and smashed into a group of Vorcha coming down the halls to reinforce their comrades. His handwork done, Jacob ducked back behind cover and said, "This equipment has been blown to hell."

"EDI," Shepard called, as she leaned out and sniped a Vorcha making good with a grenade launcher. "Any way we can get this place operational?"

"_Shepard, I've analyzed the layout of the station and I may have found a secondary control station,"_ EDI said. Shepard leaned out and sniped two Vorcha standing next to each other in quick succession. "_However, reaching it would prove problematic, as it is past the Vorcha forces._"

"I think we'll have to pass on that one, EDI," Jacob said. "There's no way any of us could get there without being seen and killed." He leaned out with his shot gun and pulled the trigger point blank on a Krogan charging at him. The blast was powerful enough to lift the larger creature from the ground and send him flying several feet backwards through the air. The poor unsuspecting Vorcha that the Krogan's dead body landed on didn't stand a chance, but managed to let out a mewling gurgle as it was crushed to death.

"That's not totally accurate," Miranda said cryptically as she sent a wave of biotic energy at an oncoming trio of Vorcha and a Krogan. The wave sent the Vorcha flying but the Krogan just kept moving forward. "Shepard can do it."

"Me?" Shepard went to look at Miranda with a mixture of curiosity and incredulity when a Vorcha charged. Shepard grabbed the disgusting creature by its throat and kneed the thing in its gut. As the Vorcha fell backwards from the assault, Shepard pulled out her hand gun and unloaded five shots into the creatures head, ensuring its death.

"I haven't been completely honest with you, Shepard," Miranda said as she took a few shots at the Vorcha and ducked into cover again. "About the upgrades the Illusive Man approved."

"Gee," Shepard said as she leaned out of cover and took some shots. "Why doesn't that surprise me."

"Yes, he said no to the control chip," Miranda paused to shoot another approaching Vorcha and launch it into the group following it with a biotic blast, "but he did agree to a personalized tactical cloak. It should be accessible from your Omni-tool."

"A tactical cloak?" Jacob shouted. "How did you get one of those into her?"

"Long story," Miranda said. She activated her Omni-tool and entered some commands. "Look we can talk about this later, but right now, Shepard, you need to get this cure to the secondary control station."

"Right," Shepard said. She activated her Omni-tool and quickly discovered that one of the locked out functions was now operable. "What about you two, you think you can hold out?"

"Just don't take all day and we'll be fine," Miranda said. She jerked her head away when a bullet hit the console near her head. "Just go. The faster we get done here, the faster we can get to Archangel. You should have about thirty seconds of cloak time. Make the most of it."

"Good luck," Jacob said. Shepard nodded and activated the cloak. She vanished in moments and was gone.

* * *

><p>Cleaning up the Vorcha and the Krogan on the lower levels was child's play. Litterally, Naruto hadn't had that much fun screwing with people trying to kill him since he was ten years old. If the situation wasn't so serious, Naruto might have been inclined to take his time bodily tossing the Vorcha and Krogan out of the lower levels.<p>

Unfortunately, Naruto had promises to keep. There were three different shutters that were available to completely lock down the lower levels. Reaching the first shutter was a simple matter of running up to the large, blinking, green button and smashing it. The shutter lowered and there were no problems.

The second shutter was at the back of a large room filled with vehicles, Archangels base equipment, and the Blood Pack. That was where Naruto had a little fun at the Blood pack's expense. Tricking the Vorcha into shooting each other and then the Krogan reminded Naruto of the Genin Test Kakashi gave team seven so long ago. Back when Kakashi had Naruto fighting his own clones with a simple replacement jutsu. Same thing here, with clones and transformations thrown in for fun. Mix, shake, and presto, shutter was closed and the Blood Pack killed themselves.

The third, and final shutter was the simplest. He just threw all the rest of his clones down the short corridor. Since the ten or so Vorcha defending didn't know how to handle a couple dozen clones running up and down the walls and ceilings, they were easily dealt with. It didn't take long for several clones to close the final shutter.

With all three shutters closed at practically the same time, Naruto nodded from the top of the stairs leading back to the upper levels. It was at times like these that an army of clones at your command was invaluable. Now all he had to do was get back to Archangel and keep the Turian alive, even if said Turian didn't seem to reciprocate the feeling.

As soon as Naruto got back to the upper levels, Naruto ran smack into a Blue Suns with a rocket launcher. He was hiding behind a pole and shooting up at the balcony to try and hit Archangel, who was doing a rather bang up job blowing the hell out of anyone who came close to the stairs leading to the second floor. Naruto had distracted the Blue Suns Heavy just as he pulled the trigger and the missile went astray and hit another Blue Suns running toward the stairs on the other side of the room.

"Oops, sorry," Naruto said. Before the Blue Suns merc could think of moving, Naruto had buried his foot into the man's head and sent him flying into the wall with a satisfying crack. "Or maybe not." Naruto brought his hands together and said, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

About a hundred clones popped into existence on the lower floor and began kicking the shit out of any merc they found. The mercs were, generally, able to defend themselves, but now they were distracted. Naruto used the opportunity to run up the wall to the second floor and was about run across the ceiling when he notice a particularly powerful Krogan run straight up the stairs.

This red plated Krogan was shot several times by Zaeed and Archangel. Several of Naruto's clones tried to stop him. The abnormally powerful Krogan shrugged all these attacks off and just kept charging right up the stairs to the second floor.

Naruto changed his coarse and flipped down from the ceiling to land in front of the Krogan. The Krogan went to charge through Naruto, probably believing him to be another clone, but Naruto ducked down and launched his foot up and into the Krogan's chin. The blow was sufficient enough to stop the red plated Krogan and knock him back a few steps.

"You're one powerful Krogan," Naruto said as he shook his foot out. "That hurt. But damn if someone wasn't beating you with the ugly stick."

"I don't have time to deal with your pathetic attacks," the Krogan said. "Archangel is mine. And no one is going to get in my way. Raaaaah!"

The Krogan charged again. Naruto leaped back and formed a Rasengan in his hand. Just as the Krogan reached him, Naruto thrust the Rasengan at the Krogan, but the swirling sphere of chakra bounced off of some kind of purplish barrier around the Krogan. Naruto's eyes widened when the Krogan smashed into him and kept going, taking the both of them into the room where Archangel and Zaeed were doing their best to fend off the Blue Suns on the lower floor and the ones repelling down the side of the building to the window of the second floor. When the Krogan stopped charging, Naruto didn't, and flew straight into the wall. When he hit, he cracked the back of his head against the wall and cried out in pain.

"Archangel!" the Krogan roared. "I finally have you where I want you!" The Krogan pulled out a shot gun and began unloading at Archangel, Zaeed, and any Blue Suns that got in his way. Archangel, Zaeed, and the few Blue Suns smart enough to take cover, tried shooting back, but whatever damage they could do to the biotic Krogan healed too quickly.

"What happened to your friends, Garm?" Archangel taunted. "Get trapped down stairs or something?"

"I'm going to kill you!" Garm roared. "Archangel!"

"Ouch!" Naruto hissed from his place on the floor. He felt the back of his head where the pounding headache he had originated. When he pulled his hand back he saw blood. "Shit. I'm going to make that bastard pay! And I gotta save Archangel!"

Naruto pushed himself to his feet with the help of the wall and unsteadily tried to stay there. The floor was moving back and forth beneath him, but he forced himself to remain standing. Concentrating hurt like a bitch, but he knew of one attack that would take out this asshole.

Naruto put his hands together and two shadow clones appeared next to him. The pain from concentrating to do just that much almost knocked him on his as, but Naruto stayed standing. He ignored the few pot shots that some of the Blue Suns made at him and held out his right hand. He forced chackra into his hand and started it spinning. One of the clones started helping with the spinning while the other one started adding wind nature to the growing sphere.

Moments later, the room was filled with the reports of gunfire and a high pitched whistling. The two clones vanished when the attack was finished forming. Garm was still shooting away with his shot gun, trying to blow the head off of Archangel and Zaeed, but the two were continually moving about the room and the Blue Suns weren't trying to kill them now, so much as avoid Garm.

The room wasn't swimming around as much as it was before, so Naruto started running as fast as he could toward Garm. Garm saw Naruto coming and unleashed a blow from his shot gun on Naruto point blank. Naruto was thrown back a bloody mess. Garm grinned, only to watch stupidly as Naruto popped, revealing he'd been replaced by one of the rather soft and comfy looking pillows from the couch.

"Futon: Rasengan!" Garm barely had time to turn, and couldn't bring his shot gun to bear, on the real Naruto as he ran up to him from the side. In his hand a swirling ball of bluish-white light with four small white blades orbiting it like a propeller. Naruto thrust the Futon: Rasengan straight into Garm's chest.

The attack was at first repelled by the purple barrier just like the regular Rasengan. Then the Biotic Barrier shattered like so much glass. The Futon: Rasengan plowed into and through Garm's red armor like a hot knife through butter, and then the flesh beneath that armor in similar fashion.

Naruto stumbled after delivering the attack and was quickly knocked back by the blast of wind as the Futon: Rasengan entered its secondary phase. Blades of air consumed Garm's entire body like a tornado.

When the winds died down, Naruto looked up from the spot he'd landed and saw Garm was still standing. He grimaced as he went to push himself back to his feet when Garm simply fell apart. Where Krogan was standing seconds before, was now a pile of red mush.

Archangel peeked out from cover and noted the pile of mush with some lack of surprise. The Blue Suns behind Archangel and Zaeed noticed that it was not their turn to try and kill Archangel. Archangel beat them to it with several quick sniper shots. He wasn't even looking for the last one as he walked forward toward where Naruto was slumped against the wall, trying to get up, but was too dizzy from the head wound.

"Bloody hell," Zaeed muttered as he inspected the former Blood Pack leader. "I sure as hell am happy he's on our side."

"I still have my doubts about that," Archangel mumbled. But he didn't have his gun on Naruto anymore.

"Archangel!"

Archangel spun around just as the gunship flew into view outside the balcony. The main gun opened fire right on Archangel. The Turian's shields didn't last more than a second and soon he was being riddled with bullets. Zaeed threw himself to the ground and Naruto could only watch as Archangel fell to the ground in a growing puddle of blue blood.

"You're going to die in there, you bastard!" shouted the pilot. The gunship lowered and a missile was launched.

"Archangel!" Naruto shouted. He threw himself forward, grabbed Archangel, flipped over, and flung the bloody Turian away form the impact zone. Then the missile hit. Naruto was sent flying. Though his shields and armor had, miraculously protected him from losing any limbs, there were now holes where there weren't any before and shrapnel littered his body. Naruto grinned though, and said "Boom."

The gunship exploded as over a dozen exploding tags attached to the fuselage went off.

* * *

><p>Shepard could barely keep from laughing as she attached the cure to the dispersion unit at the secondary controls. Seconds later, the cure was sucked into the system and the giant fans that powered the ventilation of Omega came to life again. She grinned and activated the tactical cloak again to leave.<p>

"Mission complete," Shepard said over the radio. "How you holding up?"

"_The Vorcha and Krogan seem to have gotten the message that they've lost, Commander,_" Miranda said. "_They're retreating as we speak._"

"_It could be that they realized they were fighting a losing battle with their dead covering the streets," _Jacob added.

"Good," Shepard said. "When the coast is clear, escort Daniel back to Mordin's lab and then wait for him. I'm going to head for Archangel now."

"_Roger that, commander,"_ Miranda said.

"_Uhh… Commander…"_

"What is it Joker?"

"_We found Naruto," _Joker reported. From the way he said it though, Shepard was inclined to believe that the news wasn't all that great.

"Lay it on me Joker," Shepard said. "I just love bad news."

"_The emergency beacon in his armor has been tripped, Commander,_" Joker said. "_We tracked his beacon back to the general area of where Archangel is located._" Shepard stopped walking when she heard that. How did Naruto get to where Archangel was? Shaking her head, she started running to the closest transport hub. _"That's not all. The merc radio chatter has completely died. I don't think you need me to tell you what that could mean."_

"_Commander Shepard," _EDI said, "_I'm receiving a distress signal from one Zaeed Massani. He claims to have been hired by Cerberus and is currently with Archangel and Naruto._"

"Just what the hell is going on?" Shepard wondered. "Hang on, I'm on my way to a transport hub. Miranda and Jacob will be escorting Doctor Solus to the Normandy when he's finished at the clinic. I'll be heading straight back tot he Normandy. Send a shuttle to this Zaeed with a full escort, just in case he's full of it. If he's not, tell Doctor Chakwas to be ready to receive a couple of guests."

"_Copy that commander,"_ EDI said, "_Shuttle away. ETA: Four minutes."_

* * *

><p><span>Note from the Author<span>

Bloody hell, indeed. That was one of the longest single chapters I've ever written. Damn! The next time I get the bright idea to merge two recruitment missions together, I'm going to bash my head into a wall until the idea isn't so bright anymore or I'm unconscious. I sure hope that I executed it well, because it's hard to tell.

This chapter saw the ultimate failure of Naruto's Talk no Jutsu. "Archangel" just wasn't giving him the time of day. At least, not until he took out Garm. I suppose it's hard to believe someone is on your side as an ally when they've pretty much done everything up to torturing you to death, except you lived to talk about it. My effort with Garrus here is to turn him into a kind of sharpshooter who's honed his abilities with a gun until he's practically a crack shot at whatever he lays his little Turian hands on. It's been a long two years for poor old Garrus.

I hope I got Zaeed and Mordin right. Zaeed's just awesome, but putting his curses in at the right places were an exercise. Mordin is all about analyzing the situation in short, succinct blurbs. No waste of thought or time, or so my impression of him goes.

Giving Shepard the tactical cloak out of the blue like that may seem kind of like an ass pull, and yeah, I admit it was a pretty large ass pull. But at the same time, I wanted to explore the idea of what kind of upgrades Cerberus gave to Shepard. I doubt that they'd just install a handy little network of cybernetics to bring her back to life and that's it. The idea that Miranda is holding Shepard back on the Illusive Man's orders just seemed like something that the Illusive Man would do, backstabbing asswipe that he is. So, please, excuse my ass pull.

Speaking of tropes, I am curious how many of you good readers actually know how many there are in this here story so far. I enjoy myself a trope every now and then, but I'm not fluent in it. If anyone of you good readers happen to have such a fluency, I'd be interested in hearing your verdict of this story so far.

MEleeSmasher, I'm afraid that I already have a loyalty mission in mind for Naruto that plays into his personality a bit more than just giving him his parents back would. Rest assured, though, that I am working on figuring out how to bring mama and papa Naruto into the picture. Might not happen for a bit, but I'm determined to make it work.

kitsuneLovers94, Naruto is physically 17 - 18 years old as well as mentally. The mental scarring that Sasuke applied to Naruto only erased maybe 9 to 12 months of his life in total. How this is possible, where, and when the shinobi planet is will be explained in the course of the story.

Marvey4, as you can see, Garrus didn't react all that well at all. I like to think he's grown on the Turian a little though by this point.

ShiftySpaceCow, you will see how well Naruto and Grunt get along when they pick him up. I'll give you a hint, it involves pranks.

XKhaosXKyuubiX, thank you very much for your praise. As it was my intention to use Naruto's sympathetic nature to help draw people into the story, it makes me glad to hear that it's worked. That Naruto also has amnesia and can't remember what he's done that has so adversely affected the lives of everyone he's meeting makes this a journey of discovery not only for Naruto, but for the readers as well. Because this idea of a Naruto villain being the same person as the Naruto we all know and love just doesn't match up. That causes tension, which amps up the drama and makes the story more interesting. That was my hope, anyway.

Quathis, it never really made sense to me to make Naruto bitter and cast off from his home. He was already cast off from his home before he became a ninja, so clearly he wouldn't just give up after fighting this long to gain recognition. Now if some story starts out with Naruto literally being tossed out of the village at a really young age, then it'd make more sense, but he wouldn't be the awesome ninja we all know, making it an AU story. I suppose he's just not Naruto without being the idiot blond with indomnitable will and a love for his village (even if they don't love him back).

To the rest of you dear readers who have reviewed, faved, and alerted, thank you very very much. And all of the rest of you are just as awesome. Thanks for reading chapter six of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission. Hope you liked it.


	7. The Citadel

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter Seven: The Citadel<p>

Last Time

_Omega. Deepest, darkest pit that can still support life. If you can call that living._

_After receiving direction from the Queen of Omega, Aria T'Loak, Shepard went into the quarantined slums to find Dr. Mordin Solus, a Salarian Scientist. While she and her team were stuck inside the quarantine zone, Naruto got pulled into rescuing Archangel from all of Omega's big mercenary gangs, the biggest being Eclipse, Blood Pack, and Blue Suns._

_While Shepard dealt with delivering the cure to the plague into the ventilation systems, Naruto befriended mercenary veteran Zaeed Massani. Together they snuck into Archangel's base and started fighting against those who'd "hired" them. Archangel, however, didn't totally trust Naruto, having met him when he was indoctrinated. After defending against all the forces that the mercs could throw at them, the Blue Suns boss, Tarak, attacked Archangel with a gunship. Naruto threw Archangel out of the way before he could be shot up too much, but in the process, took a missile meant for the Turian vigilante._

* * *

><p>Naruto tried to make sense of the pitch black darkness he was floating in. The last thing he remembered was… well, now that he thought about it, he couldn't recall anything. What was he doing? How did he get here?<p>

_-ace him on the table! Mov-_

A voice? Naruto tried to hear more, but it was really fuzzy. It was like the person talking was miles and miles away. They were probably not in this darkness, like he was. Maybe if he followed the voice, he could get back to the light. But… his body wouldn't move. It was like he'd turned to a statue. And he was so tired now too.

_-it! We're losing him! Set to three hundred. Clea-_

Pain! Like only one person had ever inflicted upon him. He remembered now. Sasuke had hit him with some lightning based attack… shoved his hand straight through Naruto's chest. It had hurt like this did. Pain throughout his whole body. What was the name of that attack again? He couldn't remember.

-_amn it! Stop dying you son of a-_

More pain! Another lightning attack? Naruto didn't know. It hurt to think! It hurt to try and move. He was just so damn tired. Always fighting. Against the hatred of the populace of his home. Against everyone's sneers and jeers. Against the label of loser. Against Pain. Against Madara, or Tobi, or whoever the hell he was. So much… fighting. He was so tired of fighting.

So he released his hold and let the darkness swallow him.

-_all it Doctor. He's gone.-_

"_**You little shit," **_snarled a deep booming voice._** "I go to sleep for a few months and you decide to play hero and get yourself killed. Why couldn't you have chosen to be something less life threatening for an occupation? Something like painting or writing those shitty porn novels. Why ninja?" **_The great beast heaved a large sigh._** "I'm pulling your ass out of the fire. Again. Stop trying to kill yourself! You can't fulfill your promise if you're dead."**_

* * *

><p>Doctor Chakwas took a step back from the bloody mess that was Uzumaki Naruto. Two holographic prongs retracted from Naruto's chest cavity where his heart lay motionless. The holographic display floating over his body displayed his flat-lined heart-rate, lack of neural activity, and other now ceased bodily functions that would have indicated life. The boy was as dead as a door nail, as the saying goes.<p>

Doctor Chakwas glanced at her assistant, a young man wearing an operating smock over his standard issue Cerberus uniform, and nodded. She tapped a button on the holographic display above the body and the computer automatically noted the time, place, and cause of death. Chakwas sighed despondently. She hated losing patients. The feeling of being a failure one experienced after losing anyone never got any better. Unlike a lot of her colleagues, she refused to let herself get used to the feeling. If she did, she feared that she would lose her edge. No, feeling like she could have done better only made her work harder the next time.

Chakwas turned around to the much better looking 'Archangel' on the table behind her. It was quickly revealed when his helmet was removed that the infamous vigilante was none other than Garrus Vakarian. The eponymous Turian had suffered numerous bullet wounds that, without the invention of Medi-gel, would have spelled certain doom for the former detective. However, unlike the mangled Naruto, Garrus would survive and recover. Quickly, at that. She'd personally seen the Turian survive worse… at the hands of the dead blond behind her, ironically.

_Eeeeeeeeep-beep Beep Beep Beep…_

"D-doctor Chakwas!" gasped her assistant. "The… He… Look!"

Chakwas turned. She took in a sharp breath. "What in the blazes?"

Naruto's body was glowing red. No, the red was coming out of Naruto and cover his body, like some kind of radioactive slime. As it did, the places it touched began to heal at an incredible rate. Shrapnel from the missile was pushed out as flesh repaired itself. Bones knit themselves back together as torn muscles reattached to tendons. Pieces of Naruto's body that had been utterly destroyed, like a large chunk of Naruto's left leg, simply regrew. Less than a minute later, the red glowing slime stuff started to retreat, and a whole, breathing, live Naruto was left in the place of the dead, cold, corpse.

"Wh-what was that?" cried the assistant, eyes wide in astonishment. "He just spontaneously regenerated all the damage to his body! That's impossible! It has to be! Right?"

"I haven't a clue," Chakwas said. "I'd read the reports from the mission to stop Saren… but I didn't think that… I thought Shepard and the ground team had merely been exaggerating. Like how Krogan can regenerate, but not at this level. This is… this is…"

"This is exactly why I wanted to shoot him when I saw him pull the helmet off." Chakwas jerked when Garrus spoke behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw that the Turian, though bandaged, was awake and alert. "I've pumped more bullets into him and his clones than were shot during the Krogan Rebellions. It's just not natural. He's a monster."

"I… I…"

Chakwas laid a hand on her assistant's shoulder. "Go and get some rest," she said. "You've done well. It seems everything is alright now. I can take over from here."

"Ah… uhm… right." The assistant nodded. "Thank you doctor Chakwas."

Chakwas waited until the young man had left the med-bay before she turned to look Garrus over. The Turian in question was staring at Naruto as he slept peacefully, without a scratch on him. The grimace on Garrus' face gave the doctor a hint as to what he was thinking.

"I trust Shepard's decisions," Chakwas said. "It was her decision to bring him along. Well… I assume it was. The Illusive Man had made the young man an offer. But from what I understand, Naruto here chose to come for his own reasons."

"I still don't trust him," Garrus said. "But… I won't doubt Shepard's decisions." Garrus growled and looked down at his hands. "My own decisions didn't turn out all that well. I just hope Shepard knows what she's doing. Joining Cerberus. Working with… that thing." Garrus glanced at Naruto again.

"I'm sure you can ask her about that in an hour," Chakwas said. "I'll be able to clear you then. You always did recover fast from light wounds."

Garrus grunted, though his fringe twitched from his amusement. "Yeah. A gunship lets loose with its mini-cannon on me and it's just a 'light' wound. If I'd taken that missile… I hate to say it, but I'd be dead if he hadn't tossed me out of the way. I _really_ hate to say it."

"For what it's worth," Chakwas said. "It is my opinion that you should give him a chance."

Garrus shook his head. "I can't. I've nearly died too many times by his hands. You know. You were there." Garrus leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "Besides, there's no way to be sure he isn't still indoctrinated. When he shows his true colors, I'll be ready, with a mini nuke if need be."

"I can't say for sure if he's still indoctrinated or not," Chakwas said. "But according to my scans, he doesn't exhibit the altered thought patterns that are associated the condition. It's not much, but maybe there's some credit to his claim about being undoctrinated."

Garrus shook his head. He remained silent, however. Chakwas went about cleaning up from the, now, pointless endeavor to save Naruto's life when she heard it. It sounded like a soft fluttering of wings in the wind. Garrus was snoring.

* * *

><p>Naruto awoke in a puddle staring up at the night sky. It took him several moments of watching one of these stars project a memory from his past before he recalled exactly where he was. He scowled as he sat up and looked around.<p>

"Why the hell am I here?" Naruto asked. "And why can't it be the sewer? I liked that sewer!"

"_**Shut up, brat,**_" said a booming voice. Naruto shouted in surprise and turned around to see the large iron gate of Kurama's seal. "_**Because you can't seem to stay alive for more than five months at a time, I have to sleep even longer now to make up the chakra loss.**_"

"Whoa, whoa, wait!" Naruto jumped to his feet and ran into the cage, carelessly throwing the gate open as he ran up to it. The inside of the cage was the same as it always looked, like part of a sewer system with pipes coming in at odd angles and water draining onto the floor. Kurama lay at the center of the open space of his cage, his tails were slumped all around him and the giant fox himself lay on the ground with his eyes shut. He clearly looked exhausted. "What the hell happened to you?"

"_**Just because I have nine tails doesn't mean I can't suffer from Chakra Exhaustion,**_" Kurama said. When he spoke, he barely lifted his head to give himself just enough room to move his jaw. His eyes stayed closed. And he spoke slowly, like someone who'd stayed away for a whole month and just couldn't stand being awake a moment longer. "_**Try not to die again. I don't have enough chakra to stay awake anymore.**_"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted at the giant fox. "C'mon! Wake up? I need to ask you some questions!" He jumped up and down on Kurama's muzzle, pulled on of the nine tails laying about the room, tried tickling attacks, and then finally pulled out all the stops and launched a Rasengan at the nine tailed beast.

Kurama let out a long and loud snore.

"Argh!" Naruto threw his hands into the air. "Fine! I'm leaving! But I'll be back later and you better have some answers for me!"

Naruto stomped out of Kurama's cage and the iron barred door of the seal automatically slid back into place. Naruto sighed as he looked up at the star filled sky of memories above. He groaned to himself when he noticed the huge patch of nothingness around his last memory of Sasuke.

"I wish you hadn't just destroyed all that, Sasuke." Naruto took a deep breath and ruffled his hair. "Maybe if I knew what I did to these people, I could figure out how to make it right. Aw, screw it! I'll do everything I can, but I'm not going to kill myself for them." Naruto paused, considering everything that Kurama had just told him. Then the info clicked and he scrunched up his face in annoyance. "Crap, I just killed myself for one of them!"

* * *

><p>"<em>Destination locked in, Commander,<em>" Joker said over the intercom. "_ETA to the Citadel: 18 hours._"

Shepard nodded as she stepped away from the holographically projected image of the galaxy. "Thanks Joker," she said. She nodded at her fellow red head, yeoman Kelly Chambers as she passed her by. She exited the CIC and walked through the Armory to another door. This led her to a small corridor that connected the communications room and the laboratory to the armory. As she walked in, Shepard nodded at everyone present.

"Shepard." Shepard stopped at the head of the table at the center of the room and turned her attention from Miranda, Jacob, Mordin, and Zaeed to the blue orb that appeared over the table. "Doctor Chakwas has asked me to inform you that Naruto has made a full recovery. Garrus Vakarian will be cleared in the hour."

"Thank you EDI," Shepard said.

"Logging you out, Shepard."

"Synthesized voice. Simulated emotional inflections…" Mordin trailed off as he crossed his arms and began tapping his fingers quickly against his arms. "Not simple VI. Could it be? No. Maybe? Have to ask." Mordin dropped his arms and turned to Shepard as he asked, "Is that an AI?"

Shepard shrugged noncommittally. "This ship is equipped with an artificial intelligence."

"Shackled," Miranda interjected. "We were certainly not foolish enough to give it free reign."

"Hmm," Mordin nodded. "An AI on board. Non-human crew members. Cerberus more desperate than I thought. Illusive Man branching out maybe? Not so human-centric?"

"You sure seem to know a lot about Cerberus, Doctor," Jacob said. "As far as branching out goes, the Collectors are abducting tens of thousands of Human colonists. We'll do what we have to find, and stop them."

"Of course." Mordin nodded and then shifted topics. "Salarian government well connected. Espionage experts. Had top level clearance once. Retired now. Still… hear things from time to time." Jacob nodded sagely. Miranda narrowed her eyes but remained silent. "Informed of name only," Mordin said, "no knowledge of man behind it. Anti-alien reputation listed as problematic."

Shepard snorted. "Don't kid yourself Professor. Humans still come first in the Illusive Man's eyes."

"This mission must be too big for them to handle alone then," Zaeed said, entering the conversation for the first time. "Otherwise he wouldn't have needed my services. Hell, Cerberus has you, the first bloody Human SpecTRe, working on this. I can only wonder what's got this Illusive Man's panties in such a twist."

"You could say that," Jacob said. "The Collectors are abducting human colonies out on the fringes of Terminus Space."

"For the amount of money Cerberus pushed at me to join this mission," Zaeed said, "it's better be more than that. Otherwise you're just wasting my time."

"Not simple abductions," Mordin said. "No. As the esteemed mercenary said, wouldn't need our services for simple."

"Entire colonies disappear without a trace." Miranda said. "No distress signals are sent and there are no signs of any kind of attack. There no evidence that anything happened at all, except every man, woman and child is long gone."

"Damn," Zaeed said. "I heard a few things about the Collectors. Never had to deal with them myself. What I did hear though wasn't pretty. Maybe I'll actually need to earn my pay after all…"

"Gas, maybe?" Mordin began to pace back and forth. "No," Mordin shook his head, "spreads too slow. Airborne virus? No. Slower than gas. Drugged water supply? No. Effects not simultaneous." Mordin stopped pacing and looked about the room with a smile. "Intriguing! Fascinating! No distress calls, no signs of resistance-"

"You don't need to stand there guessing," Shepard said.

"We've collected samples from the colony of Freedom's Progress, the last colony to be hit," Jacob said.

"We'd like you to analyze them and figure out how the Collectors did this," Miranda said. "And hopefully, come up with a countermeasure."

"Yes, of course," Mordin said, nodding. "Analyze the samples. Going to need a lab."

"There is a fully equipped laboratory in the starboard-aft section of the combat deck," EDI said, her voice coming from a speaker hidden somewhere within the room. "If you find anything lacking, please place a requisition order."

"Are you sure you wish to be involved with this?" Shepard asked. Miranda raised an eyebrow at Shepard's question, but remained silent.

"Of course," Mordin said. He enthusiastically waved his arms about. "Collectors present large challenge. Possible threat to whole galaxy. May not stop at humans. Now, can't risk being captured like colonists. Need to identify and neutralize technology. Which way to lab?"

"This way Professor," Jacob said. He held his arm out as he led Mordin from the communication's room. The door closed and the room was plunged into silence.

"That one's a bit excitable for my taste," Zaeed said. "They're usually the ones who bit it first. Never met a Salarian that didn't die too fast to matter."

"Underestimating Doctor Solus is not a smart thing to do," Miranda said. "He's not only brilliant, but he's quite deadly."

Zaeed snorted. "I'll believe that when I see it," he said.

"So, Zaeed Massani," Shepard said. She regarded the tall, muscular man, who's face looked like a bear gnawed on it for a while, for a moment silently. He certainly looked the part of badass mercenary veteran. Yes, he most certainly earned the veteran status. "Before I got onto Omega, I hadn't heard about you. As soon as I got back onto the Normandy, I found a convenient little email with your dossier mentioning that Cerberus had procured you services and you'd be joining our little mission. Care to explain how convenient that is?"

"You want answers, you'd best ask someone who knows," Zaeed said indignantly. "I was just finishing my last contract on Omega when I get an offer from Cerberus. Your "Illusive Man" somehow knew exactly where I was and said you'd be by shortly." Zaeed chuckled. "I thought I'd take that job hunting Archangel to pass the time. Figured I could kill a few mercs for fun."

"You kill mercs for fun?" Miranda asked.

"Are they good for anything else?" Zaeed asked in return. "I didn't give a shit about Archangel. Still don't. But he and I want the same thing. A lot of mercs dead. As long as he was pulling them all into one place, made my work all the easier. Imagine my surprise when up comes the kid. He not only leads me to Archangel, but he leads me to you. Brilliant turn of events, if you ask me."

"Since you were literally the only one left standing in Archangel's base of operation," Miranda said, "you've more than proven your skill in combat. And we _did_ receive a dossier on you, even if it was delayed in arriving. Welcome aboard the Normandy, Zaeed."

"I assume my dossier included my arrangement with Cerberus?" Zaeed asked.

"No, they conveniently left that part out," Shepard said. She rolled her eyes and sigh.

"Good thing I asked," Zaeed said. "Picked up a mission just before getting the call from Cerberus. Thought you might be interested. You heard the name Vido Santiago?" Shepard shook her head in the negative. "He's the head of the Blue Suns," Zaeed explained, "runs the whole organization. Seems he recently captured an Eldfell-Ashland refinery on Zorya, and he's using their workers for slave labor. The company wants it dealt with."

"I'll put that on our list of things to do," Shepard said. "I'm sure we'll be by that region of the galaxy soon."

"Good," Zaeed said with a grin that was more terrifying because of the scars covering his face. "Get it out of the way so we focus on being big, goddamn heroes!"

"You all set up then?" Shepard asked.

"I'm hiding out in the port side cargo hold," Zaeed said. "Bit small, but it'll do."

"We could find something more accommodating, Mr. Massani," Miranda said. "You don't need to stay down there."

"I don't get along well with others," Zaeed said. "Most others don't get along well with me." The veteran mercenary shrugged and started to leave. "Let me know when you want to get some killing done," he said as he walked out the door.

Shepard sighed and glanced at Miranda. She had a frown on her face and seemed to be thinking hard about something. While Shepard would have liked to know what those thoughts were, the two of them weren't exactly beyond the frosty level of acquaintance.

After that short moment passed, Miranda pushed away from her spot and began to leave. "Commander," Miranda said as she passed. Shepard nodded back and then was left alone in the communication's room.

* * *

><p>Naruto yawned loudly and stretched. His body felt like he'd been sitting in one position for hours and ached all over his body, including some places that weren't necessarily supposed to ache. Like his liver, or whatever organ was in there. How could he even feel pain there in the first place?<p>

Naruto blinked a few times and sat up. He wasn't expecting to wake up in a hospital like room. Why was it always hospitals? Why couldn't he wake up in his bed for once? That'd be nice. Just once, he'd like to fall unconscious from some badass heroic move and wake up in his bed like nothing had happened.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake." Naruto turned his head to look at the older looking woman sitting at a desk on the other side of the room. The two of them were the only ones in the med-bay at the moment. "I do believe that we haven't been introduced yet. I am Doctor Chakwas, medical doctor of the Normandy. I served on the original Normandy with Commander Shepard when she was fighting Saren and the Geth."

Naruto grinned and hopped out of bed. He was wearing a long white robe made of a cloth that was rather soft. The white hem of the robe swished back and forth as Naruto moved closer to the Doctor.

"Nice to meet you," Naruto said. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto… wait, you said you were on the original Normandy?"

"Yes," Chakwas said, "I'm afraid your infamy proceeds you. But I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt in regards to your intentions."

Naruto grinned as he felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He really was trying to prove he wasn't going to go nuts and kill everyone, but he hadn't realized how hard it was going to be. It's not like he hadn't dealt with stuff like this before, but at least then, the people were calling him a monster because of what he was carrying, not what he'd actually done. Regardless, Naruto was genuinely happy that at least one person wasn't judging him so harshly.

"Thanks," Naruto said. "I swear I'll make everyone believe I'm here to help. I'll just stick it out until everyone can see what I'm really like, just like the villagers." The idle thought that he'd had to watch nearly all the villagers die and the village get destroyed before the villagers finally started believing in him. Naruto swallowed and pushed that thought away. "Maybe I'll do it better than that," Naruto said a little nervously. Thankfully, Doctor Chakwas didn't catch the way his voice wavered, or didn't think enough of it to inquire.

"For a good thirty seconds there, you were dead, you know," Chakwas said. "Then a red energy like nothing I've ever seen covered your body and you fully regenerated. I'll be studying the readings of that for weeks. It might even lead to some advancements in the field of tissue regeneration."

"Oh… uhh…" Naruto scratched the back of his head and grinned.

"That's a good thing, Mr. Uzumaki."

"Oh, awesome!" Naruto grinned some more. "I'll take your word on that."

Chakwas looked at Naruto curiously for a second. Then she asked, "You wouldn't happen to know what that stuff was, would you?"

"Oh, that was just Kurama's chakra," Naruto said as a matter-of-fact. "He's a nine tailed demon fox sealed in my gut by my dad, the Fourth Hokage."

"Is that a fact?" Chakwas asked. She arched one of her silver eyebrows at Naruto. "I happen to have some samples of chakra that I've studied that Sakura was kind enough part with. That red stuff looked and acted nothing like it."

"You knew Sakura too?" Naruto asked.

"And Sasuke," Chakwas said with a nod. "However, that doesn't answer my question. If that was chakra. Why was it red? Why was it different than Sakura and Sasuke's chakra?"

"I told you," Naruto said as he wrinkled his face in annoyance. "It's Kurama's chakra. He's a tailed beast. They got tons of chakra… well, they normally do. Kurama seems to have used most of it up recently, but he wouldn't tell me why before he went back to sleep."

Chakwas sighed. She really didn't believe Naruto had a demon sealed into his gut that was capable of miraculously healing injuries so severe that they would kill any other person, except perhaps Shepard. Still, he was being adamant about it, so perhaps that what he believed it to be. No sense pushing him on it if he didn't know what it was.

"Uh… This thing is nice and all," Naruto said as he pulled on his robe, "but why am I dressed in this? What happened to my armor?"

"I'm afraid it was destroyed by the blast," Chakwas said. "What was left of it had to be surgically removed, since it was fused with your skin. The remnants of it were taken to the armory for Operative Jacob, to see if he could do anything with it."

"Aww, man," Naruto's shoulder slumped. "Well, it was nice while it lasted."

"Don't worry too much," Chakwas said. "I'm sure you'll get a replacement soon enough."

"Hmm… do you think they could change a few things?"

"You'd have to ask Jacob," Chakwas said. "I'm afraid I don't know the first thing about maintaining armor."

At this point the door to the med-bay slid open and Shepard entered. When she saw Naruto was standing, she grinned, though it was obvious to Naruto that it was a mixture of happiness and fulfilled expectations. She knew he'd survive a direct missile blast! Just what the heck had happened that she would expect something like that?

"Commander Shepard," Chakwas said. "Come to check up on the patient?"

"I have. Naruto, you've been asleep for the last twelve hours," Shepard said as she came to stand in front of Naruto and the Doctor. "I'm happy you survived. I'd hate to have to face Sakura alone if I had to tell her that you died under my watch."

Naruto grinned as he chuckled nervously. He could sympathize. Being on the receiving end of Sakura's punishments over the years gave him a good idea of what she'd do when he finally found her, and in that scenario, he'd be alive. He shuddered to think of how she'd react to learning he'd died. Knowing her, she'd probably use Edo Tensi on the mercs who kill him and torture them to death, several times, for starters.

"I came to see how you were doing and to thank you for saving Garrus," Shepard said. "He's one of my good friends and a valuable member of the team."

"Garrus who?"

"Archangel," Shepard said. "His real name is Garrus Vakarian. It's ironic that you were the one to save his life because when you were indoctrinated, you seemed to have it out for him pretty bad."

"As I recall, Wrex sustained more injuries than Garrus did," Chakwas said.

"Yeah… I suppose crushing one of his hearts with your bare hands would count as more damage," Shepard said, tapping her chin with one finger. Naruto swallowed loudly and took a nervous step back. He'd crushed someone's heart with his bare hand. "But," Shepard continued, "he's a Krogan, so he had two hearts. And the first one was repaired eventually. He even said he wanted a rematch after that."

"Oh," Chakwas laughed lightly. "I remember. As soon as he was able to move, he was bugging Sasuke for a fight and Sasuke just walked up onto the ceiling of the hangar to get away. Wrex was running around for a good hour trying to figure out how to get him down."

"He eventually settled on using Pull," Shepard said with a smile as she relived the past. "I'd never seen Sasuke loose his cool as much as he did in that moment. I thought for a second he screamed, but he was all business as soon as he touched down. Wrex got his beating and everyone was happy."

Naruto was thoroughly confused by this point. Who was Wrex and why was he happy that Naruto had crushed his heart? Why was he bugging Sasuke for a fight? Why was Sasuke ignoring him?

"Those were hard times," Doctor Chakwas said, almost sadly. "But there were a few good days."

"Naruto," Shepard said. Naruto jumped. Shepard grinned and said, "We'll be arriving at the Citadel in a few hours. Unless you have some pressing business to deal with, you should probably remain on board the Normandy…"

"Huh?" Naruto frowned. "Why?"

"The last time you were there, you were attacking the Citadel with a fleet of Geth and a Reaper," Shepard said. "It's well known who you are, even if no one saw you. I doubt the Councilors would take kindly to seeing you alive, let alone walking around freely."

"Ah," Naruto said. He gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head. "I'll have to find some way to make it up to them, then, eventually. I don't have anything to do here, though. The information that Cerberus gave me about Sasuke and Sakura only mentioned that they passed through the Citadel a long time ago. Any leads here would probably have dried up by now."

"Very well," Shepard said. "Try not to blow the ship up while I'm gone."

Naruto nodded and quickly walked from the room. As he passed by the common area he noticed that the crew was staring at him. Rather than the guarded looks of mistrust, though there was still plenty of that, he saw a few stares of awed fascination pointed his direction. Hmm… maybe taking a missile wasn't such a bad thing after all.

* * *

><p>As soon as he finished cleaning himself in the showers and dressing in a clean set of his ninja clothes and armor from home, Naruto was left with nothing to do for several hours. And they hadn't even reached the Citadel yet. He'd stopped by the mess hall after dressing, but the green and yellow goop that the chef had told him was food didn't sit right in his stomach. He needed real food. So he'd come back with some hot water and unsealed several instant ramen cups.<p>

As he drained the last of the chicken flavored broth from the last cup, Naruto sat back on the couch and stared out the window at the space flying by outside. It was oddly relaxing to stare out the window at the stars, so many more than he could recall seeing from the top of the Hokage Monument, his own father's head in fact. At that moment, he felt really and truly small and insignificant.

It was a strange feeling. Very much unlike when all the villagers would look at him with those cold, unfeeling eyes. That was… worse, in a weird sort of way. Staring out into the black abyss of deep space made him feel small, yes, but connected as well. As if to spite the fact that he was so very small the universe still shone its light on him in some sort of effort to make him a part of it. That notion made this feeling of insignificance vastly different than anything he'd ever felt before. It was… humbling.

_Poof!_

"What the hell?" Naruto shouted as he jumped back as a cloud of smoke exploded in his face. His head jerked from side to side to see if anyone had snuck up on him to attack him or play a joke on him. But he was completely alone in his room. This brought his attention back to where he was sitting moments before.

There sat a scroll. On it, Naruto clearly could see a wax seal with the word 'Shinobi' pressed into the wax. Naruto picked up the scroll and immediately noticed a seal underneath the wax seal. It took Naruto an additional five minutes of staring at the scroll and wondering for the light bulb to go off in his head.

"Ooooooooooooh!" Naruto said intelligently. "It's a scroll from the toads! I knew they hadn't forgotten about me! I wonder how they're doing. I should probably go see them one of these days. Or summon Gamakichi."

Naruto bit his thumb and smeared his blood across the seal. The black ink glowed red for a moment and then the wax seal cracked. Naruto grinned as he unrolled the scroll. The grin slowly dropped as he inspected the inside of the scroll.

"This isn't from Gamakichi…" Naruto said, almost sadly.

_Naruto,_

_I can only hope by now that you've found Sasuke and Sakura, or that you've found a lead and are headed to them. Unfortunately, things have changed. We've received new information that points to the Reapers coming here, to our planet! We, the leaders of the Shinobi Planet, don't think letting this happen is a good idea._

"Yeah," Naruto muttered. "But why the hell do these Reapers want to take our planet? It's in another dimension!"

_After six months of study, we finally figured out where and when you are. Remember that tracking seal we placed on your arm? We used that to lock onto your location in time and space. We've never seen any results like it before, but our best guess is that you are __not__ in another dimension. You are simply very, very, very, far away, as best we can tell. Astronomy was never my strong suit and the people who know what they're talking about don't know how to describe your location yet._

Naruto pulled back his left sleeve and saw the black squiggly marks of the circular seal inside of a square box just below his wrist. It still looked fine to him. "I guess getting blown up doesn't effect the seal."

_We used five Kages worth of chakra to reverse summon just a simple scroll to you in the hopes of opening up at least a one way channel of communication. Don't be stupid and try and reverse summon something back to us. The chakra requirements are ridiculous and you would, even with all the Nine-tails chakra, die from chakra depletion. I'm sure you remember what happened to me on our first C-rank in Wave…_

_When we figure out how to do this with less chakra, we'll let you know. In the mean time, go about your mission to find Sasuke and Sakura. Once you find them, we, the entirety of the Shinobi Planet are assigning you a new mission. We don't know whether Sasuke will join you, or where his allegiance lies at all for that matter, but you and Sakura are here by ordered to contact the Citadel Council of the galaxy, present the treaty of alliance sealed below into this scroll, and open up diplomatic ties with the races who also defend against the Reapers._

Naruto's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open. What the hell was he reading? How did they know half of this stuff? Why were they asking him to do something… no, he could see why they were asking him. He was the only one here they could contact. But that they trusted him with something as important as representing everyone on his planet. Their very lives.

It was almost too much. He hadn't earned this at all, but he couldn't deny them this. The survival of everyone on his planet depended on whether he could be a good politician. For some reason, that made him feel like he was about to take a written test without knowing a single thing about the subject matter.

"I am so screwed," he breathed.

_Naruto, I realize this is a lot to ask of you. You were never good with politics, preferring to just rush in head first and punch the offending party in the face. But if you truly want to be Hokage, you'll have to master this too, and that means fighting with words and ideas. You're good at bringing your ideals to the table, time to learn a new way to do it. You and Sakura, and maybe Sasuke, will be our Ambassadors to this new galaxy. Your words will either make or break an alliance between our peoples, but know that our survival likely rests in working together with as many people as we can to stop the Reapers. If you can't figure it all out, I'm sure Sakura can help. Good luck._

_-Hatake Kakashi, "Acting" Hokage_

_-Senju Tsunade, Representative of the Lands of Fire_

_-The rest of the Shinobi Congress_

"Shepard!"

* * *

><p>"Approaching the Relay now," Joker said. He input a command into his console and said, "Initiating transmission sequence."<p>

Naruto moved up to the window on the bridge and stared in awe at the giant mass relay. He'd already seen the Omega Four relay up close, but that one wasn't active at all. This one was alive with energy in whites, blues, and purples. The structure itself resembled a clothes pin with what Naruto could only describe as a planet sized Rasengan at the base of the inside of the two arms. It was incredible to watch two rings spin around the pulsing sphere of white energy like he had seen his clones do when creating a Rasengan.

"We are connected to the relay," EDI announced. "Calculation of transit mass and destination complete."

"Relay is hot," Joker said. "Acquiring approach vector."

"That thing is massive," Naruto said as the Normandy flew at blinding speed toward the Mass Relay. "What is that thing spinning around? It's like a giant Rasengan!"

"Quiet, Naruto," Shepard said. "Let Joker concentrate."

"Oh, hehe, sorry." Naruto grinned apologetically at Joker, who rolled his eyes and continued to do his work.

"Approach vector acquired," EDI said. "The board is green."

"All stations secure for transit," Joker said. "Approach run has begun."

The Normandy tilted to the starboard as Joker turned her to run parallel to the arms of the relay. The giant ball of energy inside the spinning rings pulsed as energy built up around it. Electrical spark like tendrils of blue-white energy reached out from the relay toward the Normandy as she flew past the relay.

"Hitting the relay in three, two, one…"

More and more tendrils of energy lanced out from the relay to the Normandy. The energy danced over the Normandy's hull as the ship became enveloped in a deep purple cone. With a jolt, the Normandy suddenly accelerated past the speed of light.

Naruto gaped at the intense swirling mass of lights outside the window. The whole ship was vibrating as if it were alive with the energy of the relay. And then, just as suddenly as it started, the ride was over.

The Normandy decelerated as it hit the mass effect field of the Widow System relay. Joker then piloted her into a vast cloud that glowed with the light reflected from the star of the Widow system. Naruto's eyes widened marginally when the clouds of gas parted and the Citadel was revealed.

"Wow…" was all the young man was able to mutter as he took in the reality defying scope of the space station that acted as the hub of galactic civilization. It's five arms were open, like a claw ready to grasp whatever flew into them without letting go. At the center of the arms, connecting all of the arms was a ring with a single tower sticking out of it toward the center. As the Normandy swooped in toward the five arms of the station, it passed by thousands of ships of many different makes and origin. The largest one looked like someone mixed a plus sign with a toaster oven.

"That's the Destiny Ascension," Shepard said when she noticed Naruto staring at the Asari Dreadnought. "_Still _the flagship of the Citadel Fleet."

Joker snorted. "Still don't see how size matters all that much."

"Are you kidding," Naruto said, "that thing's gotta be a hundred times bigger than the Normandy."

"During the Battle of the Citadel, it was the Normandy SR1 at the head of the Arcturus Fleet that saved the Destiny Ascension," Miranda said. She and Jacob stopped next to Shepard as they joined the wait for the Normandy to dock. At Naruto's blank look of incomprehension, Miranda tried again. "Without all the smaller ships, that big one would have been utterly destroyed."

"And the Council along with it," Shepard muttered. "I'm just hoping they'll appreciate the effort."

"They did give Humanity a seat on the council," Miranda said.

"For all the good it did us," Jacob muttered. "In the end, its people like us who have to go out and do all the hard work."

"You sound almost bitter," Shepard said. "Something on your mind Jacob?"

"No ma'am," Jacob said, his back straightening slightly. "I'm just frustrated. I'm not a big fan of politics. Just gets in the way."

Naruto grimaced and went back to watching all the ships pass by the ship. He really didn't need a reminder of why he was coming along with Shepard into the Citadel. After speaking with Shepard about his new assignment, she'd made a few suggestions about how to deal with the Council and their expected anger at him.

"Naruto," Miranda said. He glanced back at her and noticed she and Jacob were studiously looking back. "When did you get that?"

Naruto looked down at his red cloak with the black flames on the bottom fringe. One of Shepard's suggestions was to dress as best as he could to give a better first impression than he made the last time. The only other clothes he had from home were his black and orange jacket, orange pants, and his sage cloak that he'd fought Pain in. It was damaged in that fight, but had somehow gotten fixed. He wasn't sure when, so he just assumed it had happened during one of the memories that were erased.

"I got this after I completed my Sage training," Naruto said. "It's the only other thing I have to wear from home besides my normal clothes. Shepard said I should be dressed good when I meet the Council."

"Shepard?" Miranda said sharply. "Do you really think this a wise thing to do?" Naruto cringed. Then his head hurt from his confusion. Why was Miranda concerned about his welfare? "He's no good to us dead or in prison." Ah… that's why.

"Don't look at me, Miranda," Shepard said. "He's the one who asked for it. I already told him the consequences of his actions, but he insisted. Some kind of orders from his home planet. He wouldn't elaborate, just that he had to talk to the Council on official business from home."

"Damn man," Jacob said. "You're about to stir up some serious shit."

"Hehe…" Naruto laughed nervously. This wasn't really doing anything good for his nerves. He was this close to sending a clone to do it instead of going in person. Sadly, clones could only do so much before they reached a limit, and at that point became a poor substitute for the real thing.

"Citadel Control is requesting identification," EDI said.

Joker opened a com channel from his console and said, "Citadel Control, this is S-S-V Normandy. Requesting permission to land."

"_Stand by for clearance, Normandy,_" replied the operator on the other end. "_Normandy, we're reading you as registered to Cerberus. Please stand down and prepare to be impounded._"

"So much for waltzing right in the front door," Miranda said. "We should probably leave before their fleets try to capture us."

"Hang on to that thought," Shepard said. She stepped up to stand next to Joker's seat and nodded at Joker. He hit a button on his console and nodded back. "This is Council SpecTRe Agent Jennifer Shepard. Requesting permission to dock and a berth. Council ID is XO774523."

"_Copy that, Agent Shepard,_" the operator said. "_ID number confirmed. Please be prepared to verify identity upon arrival. A berth has been cleared for you in Zakera Ward."_

"Roger, Citadel Control," Joker said. "Normandy out." He hit a few more commands on his console and relaxed a bit. "Zakera ward, huh? Why couldn't we get something nicer, like the some place on the Presidium? I mean, we did save their sorry asses from a Reaper, the Geth, and Saren."

"Maybe I can get Anderson to put in a good word for us," Shepard said. "I'm just glad my ID is still good. I doubt the Council left my SpecTRe status active after spending two years being dead."

"They probably have standing orders to allow anyone claiming to be a dead SpecTRe to land and verify their identity so they can arrest the impersonators outside of their ships," Jacob said. "It's much easier to chase someone down on foot than it is to chase a ship around the Citadel."

"Hey," Naruto said, "I've heard that term a few times, but what is a SpecTRe? You just got us a landing place when it sounded like they wanted to arrest us a moment ago. Are you some kind of secret agent or something?"

Shepard smiled and shook her head. "Not exactly. Before I started my search for Saren and, well, you, I was inducted into the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Agency. It's a group that answers directly to the Council. As an Agent I can do what I want when I want without fear of being arrested or prosecuted. SpecTRe Agents do what has to be done in order to get the job done."

Naruto frowned. "It sounds like you're all a bunch of thugs to me," he said. "What's to stop you from abusing your powers and making everyone hate you and the council?"

"Funny you should ask," Miranda said, "the answer, of course, is the Council and other SpecTRes. The council has full authority over the SpecTRes and can revoke SpecTRe status if the agent becomes a danger to the Council."

"Saren was a SpecTRe before I was inducted," Shepard said. "He might not have been a threat before he was indoctrinated, but he _was_ a threat when I came onto the scene. And it's not like being a SpecTRe gives someone free reign to do whatever they want. We have a responsibility to protect the innocent and the galaxy. If you fail in that duty, you'll be dealt with. I'd like to think most of the SpecTRes take their duty seriously…"

"Most do," Jacob said, "though they can't really help falling prey to their emotions and prejudices. They're mortal just like the rest of us. They just try to hide it better."

"Hmm…" Naruto tilted his head as he contemplated the idea. A group of people who are above the laws that act as protectors of the galaxy. They do what they need to do when they need to do it to keep the galaxy safe. There's a lot of room for corruption in a system like that… but he could see the benefits of having someone with the power to solve problems right away instead of having to wait for the red tape to clear.

* * *

><p>"Logged," EDI announced to the ground party in the airlock's decontamination chamber. "The commanding officer is ashore. Flight Lieutenant Moreau has command."<p>

"You know," Shepard said, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

"In what way, Commander?" Miranda asked as the four of them left the Normandy and entered the Zakera Ward port. It was basically a long line of ship berths with an elevator placed opposite every fifth boarding ramp. A common avenue connected all the boarding ramps.

Shepard shook her head. "Never mind. Naruto and I will head to the Presidium to meet with the Council. I get the feeling they'll have some questions for me. You two know your assignments, right?"

The four of them stepped into the open elevator just in front of the Normandy's docking ramp. As soon as the door closed and the lift began to rise, Jacob activated his Omni-tool and read through the list displayed. "You want us to go shopping," Jacob said. "Fill up on food stocks for the crew. See about weapons and mods that we might need. Anything specific you want us to keep an eye out for?"

"If you can, look for any HMWSR," Shepard said. "I doubt you'll find any, but I would really like a replacement. Even if it has to be modded to hell just to get it back up to the specs of my old one."

"Kind of attached to the hardware, Shepard?" Miranda asked with a wry smile.

"That rifle saved my life more than a dozen times," Shepard said. "It was the only one that never jammed up on me too. Some guns they just make right. The 92 Mantis I'm using now is alright… but it doesn't really pack the punch I'm used to."

"We'll look out for one," Miranda said. "Don't keep your hopes up though. Each of those HMW weapons were made specifically for SpecTRes out of prototype technology."

"If we can't find anything close enough, we'll just have to make up for it with mods." Jacob crossed his arms and bowed his head in thought. "It might be possible to modify the Mantis your using now to up the power and damage if we pull out the Kinetic Stabilizer and the Combat Optics and replace them with a Scram Rail and a higher caliber barrel. You'd be reducing the number of shots you got per thermal clip, but you'd be putting holes in things you were only denting before."

"Uhh…" Naruto wiped the drool from his face. "Sorry, you lost me after 'It might be possible…' Why can't you just run up and punch them. I mean, I know how useful explosions are and I throw my kunai all the time, but these guns just seem to lack the power a punch or a kunai to the face have."

"Haven't you realized yet?" Miranda asked. Naruto gave her a blank look. Obviously, no, he hadn't. "Humans in this galaxy don't have chakra. We don't run up to punch things because we'd get killed before we even got close. Only biotics who've mastered the Charge ability can do that, and even they are put into mortal danger if they don't get out of the enemies ranks fast enough."

"But… But what about that purple and black stuff you guys use," Naruto said, motioning toward Miranda and Jacob. "It's like the gravity jutsu that Pain used when I fought him. I thought that's what you guys were using."

"No," Jacob said. He held up his hand and the purple glow of a mass effect field surrounded his arm. "This is biotics. We have little nodes of element zero attached to our nervous system. It lets us make mass effect fields when we concentrate. Same thing that lets the Normandy move, but much smaller scale."

"So then, you're not using chakra at all?" Naruto asked as he tilted his head to the side with a frown. Miranda and Jacob shook their heads. "You coulda fooled me. I mean, with those biotics, you could do some badass stuff. Pain leveled our entire village with this high gravity jutsu called Shinra Tensei. Oh, but wait… he needed the Rinnegan to even use moves like that… you don't have a Rinnegan, do you?"

"Sorry," Shepard said with a half smirk. "You lost us at 'You coulda fooled me.'" Naruto hung his head in defeat. Shepard and Jacob chuckled. Miranda simply watched on in amused silence. At that moment the elevator slowed to a stop and the door opened with a soft ding. "Come on," Shepard said. "It's time to face the music."

* * *

><p>"Yes?"<p>

"_I have some new information for your target and an update on mission parameters. She'll be exiting the Citadel Tower on the Presidium in three hours, if all goes well. The meeting may end sooner or later than that, depending on the enemy._ _She'll have a blond companion, bring him too. In fact, he may be just as important as the primary target in ending this._"

"So the plan's now to wait until after the 'Council' has had their way with her and her companion before stealing them away. Got it. Anything else boss lady?"

_"No, that's everything. Good luck._"

"Thanks, but I'm the best. I don't need luck."

* * *

><p><span>Note from the Author<span>

Wow. This chapter could have easily continued on for another five thousand words. I don't know what it is about this story that makes me want to write so damn much, but I'm not going to question it too much if it's getting me results. I believe some of the questions that you've had are answered... sort of, in this chapter. As always, more will be revealed as time goes on.

Though there was much less action in this chapter, that was intentional. My intention was to give you the chance to catch your breath after the action last chapter while at the same time using the lull in action to showcase the fact that Naruto is still getting used to all the amazing sights and things of the new galaxy. I've also taken the opportunity to plant some plot seeds for the future. It is my hope that the surprises revealed in this chapter only make you ask more questions.

Review Corner

LeadStrategist, the truth is I hadn't actually thought of how Garrus would react all that much up until I wrote it. When I did, I just went with my gut instinct on how someone who was supposed to be dead and gone had come back to life. Someone who was responsible for some of the greatest physical pain that Garrus had to endure in all his life. I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't thought the full scene all the way through, but now that I am, I'm wondering if Garrus should have reacted much more violently than he did. As you said, he did just lose his team and was fighting non-stop for over a day. The man's gotta snap sometime. As far as your question about Chakra, that will be revealed in the due course of the story.

MEleeSmasher, I don't want to spoil the story so I will not be commenting on how I'll bring Naruto's parents into this. But rest assured they will be. As far as resurrection techniques go, all the tech in the mass effect galaxy is essentially based off of reaper tech, since they built the Mass Relays and the Citadel, which is what all technology in the galaxy is based off of. Chakra resurrection techniques, as you said, have a really high cost and I'm not sure there's a way around that, though it is something to think about when you mix Reaper tech and chakra. What kind of possibilities lie there, and not just for resurrection techniques/technology?

Sasuke changing from the emo villain into hero is something that happened in the prequel to this story. How and why it happened is a secret to everyone... for now. I actually had forgotten about how Naruto realized he could have been in Sasuke's place if their roles were reversed. Something to think about for the prequel... and you got your sage mode cloak. I was planning on pulling it out this chapter too. Ironic that you asked about it for the last chapter, XD.

Ozzman40k, as you can see, even when Naruto tells people about Kurama, they don't believe him. As far as anyone knows, Naruto just has this amazing ability to use Chakra unlike Sasuke and Sakura. They don't have experience with ninja in general and only Shepard would likely believe Naruto about the fox until Sasuke or Sakura backed up Naruto's claim. Naruto _is_ suspect, after all.

Wonijs, only three days left until March 6th, (2012. For future reverence, this is when Mass Effect 3 was released)! While it's true that Naruto's usually proven himself through his actions, he can usually also supplement that by talking his enemies out of being enemies. Or just running away instead of fighting on. In this case, Naruto told Garrus off and Garrus just shrugged and pulled the trigger point blank range. The only reason Naruto isn't dead because of a bullet to the brain (and that's assuming Kurama couldn't save Naruto in time) is because he's damn lucky (don't gamble with the boy, you'll lose) and the Blood Pack blew the barricade in the lower levels. The shockwave from the explosion threw Garrus' aim off and saved Naruto's life. That luck is the only reason Naruto wasn't shot. His talk no jutsu just didn't effect Garrus. But, like you said, he proved himself a little more every time he saved Garrus life, and then took a missile for the Turian. That's gotta say something good about Naruto's intentions, even if his talk doesn't work.

AnInappropriateName, that was not my intention. I was trying to show Shepard as unconcerned for the dozen or so guns pointed at her, because what are a few guns to all that crap that went down before she died? Miranda and Jacob going back to back bad-asses, cause they've been in worse situations before. Naruto was supposed to be standing slightly out of the way while he mentally complained that only one guard was pointing their gun at him. Thanks for pointing that out though, I'll have to go back and take another look at that part.

To the rest of you dear readers who have reviewed, faved, and alerted, thank you very very much. And all of the rest of you are just as awesome. Thanks for reading chapter Seven of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission. Hope you liked it.


	8. The Revealed

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter Eight: The Revealed<p>

Last Time

_Naruto died but was saved at the last moment, once again, by Kurama. It cost him, though. Kurama will sleep longer still to make up for the effort. Naruto is on his own, but that never stopped him before._

_While Naruto is unconscious, Shepard decides to head to the Citadel to contact the Council and give them an update on her status. Councilor Anderson had sent a message to Shepard asking her to come as soon as possible._

_Before arriving at the Citadel, Naruto receives a communique from home. They asked Naruto to make contact with the Citadel Council on their behalf to set up an alliance against the Reapers. Naruto reluctantly accepts this task, having no love of politics, but driven to act out of loyalty to his home._

* * *

><p>Naruto could only wonder what kind of technical know-how it took to build something as large and… just… impossible as the Citadel. He got a good overview of the Wards from the transport that Shepard and he took to the Presidium. The arms were filled with sky scrapers, or maybe they were space scrapers here. It was hard to tell because above his head was another arm of the station, also filled with space-scrapers.<p>

The Presidium was no different. It was a poor substitute for a real planet with water and grass, but for a space station, this must have been the equivalent of heaven. The soft curve of the huge ring and the metal walls was the only reminder that this idyllic setting was artificial.

On top of the incredible scale and setting was the sheer number and variety of species living on the Citadel. Before setting down the transport on the Presidium, Naruto closed his eyes and reached out for any natural energy around him. The response he got was so overwhelming, he had to push as much chakra out of his system to prevent himself from absorbing any of the natural chakra. The Citadel was packed with life, as it turned out, and pushing all the effort to rid himself of excess natural chakra left him dizzy.

On the Presidium, Naruto followed Shepard past several beings, only a few of which were human, who went about their business at a very sedate pace. Shepard navigated around the wide walkways and bridges spanning a large river running through the Presidium until they arrived at the base of a long tube that ran up into the fake sky above their heads.

"This is the elevator that will take us to the Citadel Council Chambers," Shepard said as she hit the yellow holographic call button. While they waited, Shepard turned to Naruto and asked, "So what do you think of the Citadel?"

"It's incredible!" Naruto shouted. He turned and took a few steps away from the elevator door. As he stood there he watched the multitude of people of a variety of species that walked by. He thought of the immense size of the Presidium and the Citadel beyond that. Off a distance to his left was a gargantuan statue of a Krogan. Just in front of him was a statue of a Mass Relay. "I've never seen so many people living so close together like this before," Naruto said, a slight tinge of awe in his voice. "And it's not just humans, but aliens too. They're not trying to kill each other or anything. Back home, the only way the different nations came together was when the Akatski threatened all of them with war. I think more happened after that, but those memories are gone now. And how did you build such a big place in the middle of no where? This place is huge!"

"This station certainly amazing, though we didn't build it," Shepard said as she nodded. "To tell you the truth, the different nations of Earth didn't really come together until we were face with an enemy of our own, the Turians."

"What?" Naruto turned back to Shepard. "But that Archangel guy… Garrus? He's a Turian right?"

"What I'm talking about happened about thirty years ago," Shepard said. "Humanity had just learned about Mass Relays and were exploring beyond our home system for the first time. Then we ran into the Turians. The First Contact War followed, which didn't last long until the Council intervened and stopped the Turians before they could kill us all. But that common foe galvanized the Systems Alliance into taking the responsibility to govern all of humanity, instead of one country or another trying to lead as it was before the war."

"Wow… that kind of sounds like what I found when Sasuke sent me back home," Naruto said. "There was some new kind of government, or something, that all the shinobi nations belonged to. No one nation was the leader. I didn't really get that much info on it because I wanted to get back here faster."

At that moment the elevator arrived. Shepard gestured for Naruto to enter and followed behind. Moments later, the elevator started its journey, quickly moving through the false sky and revealing the rest of the Citadel. The five wards of the station stretched out like the Citadel were a giant claw grasping for whatever planet that lay before it.

As the elevator climbed the Citadel Tower, Shepard glanced over at Naruto. She expected to see fear of the unknown, apprehension about the Council's reaction to him, and no small amount of grim determination to do this task he seemed dead set on accomplishing. She expected these things because that's what she was feeling, though for different reasons. Instead, Naruto had his eyes closed as he concentrated.

"Naruto?" She frowned in response to his seeming complete lack of concern for what they were walking into. He seemed to have been wound up pretty tight about this meeting so far. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," he said so quietly it might have been whispered. Shepard found herself straining to hear what he was saying. "Something doesn't feel right. I can't tell why though." He opened his eyes, moved next to the transparent wall of the elevator, and put his hand on it as he stared out at the station and the fleets of ships moving through. "It's like a gut feeling that I usually get before something huge is about to go down," he said. "To name a few, I got this feeling when I was chasing Sasuke, when I was racing to save Gaara from Akatski, and when I was about to return to the village after Sage training with the Toads."

"What usually happens when you get these feelings?"

"A hell of a big fight that usually ends badly for someone," Naruto said. "The fight after chasing Sasuke nearly killed me and my friends, the fight with the Akatski nearly killed Sakura and did kill Gaara, and the entire village was destroyed by Pain before I'd even gotten back from my Sage training. After I returned, the fight that followed nearly killed me, and that was just to stop Pain. Pain ended up killing himself in the end after I talked him down."

"I take it that we should be ready for a fight then," Shepard said. She was dressed in civilian clothes, but she had brought a hand gun with her just to be safe. The C-Sec guards at the port security station hadn't bothered her about it. Sometimes it was good to be a SpecTRe. Naruto didn't need a weapon. He was one. "And here I was hoping that this would be a quick stop and then we could get back to fighting the Collectors."

Naruto kept his head down as he followed Shepard out of the elevator, past the avenue of trees very similar to cherry blossom trees, around a huge water fountain, and up several flights of stairs. He was now even more nervous about what was going to happen when he met the Council than he was before boarding the elevator. His gut was telling him that he was about to engage in heavy combat, his muscles and mind were tense with the anticipation, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why.

He was reviled by every living being in this galaxy at this point. His first assumption was that the Council would arrest him and throw him in jail, or worse, have one of their SpecTRes kill him on the spot. But then Shepard assured him that they'd never actually seen any footage or pictures of him during his reign of terror, just reports of him, his description, and his name. That only meant there was a super small, minuscule, microscopic chance they wouldn't throw him in jail or kill him on the spot, which didn't improve his mood much.

The feeling in his gut was telling him that he wasn't going down without a fight. But wouldn't that be doing just exactly what they expect him to do? That would practically ensure that any alliance with the Council for the Shinobi was doomed forever.

No. He wouldn't jeopardize his people's chance at an alliance. But the idea of doing nothing while he was killed or arrested made his gut twist tighter than when Bushy Brows punched him. If nothing else, this whole experience was making him hate politics on a whole new level. Loathing would probably be a better description of his feelings.

It was at this point that Naruto blinked and suddenly became aware of his surroundings once more. He was following behind Shepard, who was walking slowly up a last set of stairs to some sort of summit at the end of a long hall. Ahead he could see four people standing on a balcony overlooking some kind of bridge that ended right before them. When Naruto glanced behind him, he saw a quaint park area with trees, a water fountain, and lots of pink flowering trees. But it was what he didn't see that set off alarm bells. The entire place was completely empty.

At the top of the stairs, Shepard waved Naruto back just before she stepped onto the bridge. Naruto stopped, but didn't drop his guard, as he watched Shepard walk to the end of the bridge in silence. The intensity of the heat in his gut felt like it had multiplied by a factor of ten. Something was very wrong here and the leery looks that he and Shepard was getting from the Council was making the feeling worse.

"Shepard," greeted the blue Asari. Naruto tried to remember the name he'd read, Tavia, Techna, Tutu, something with a 'T', but he couldn't remember. "I'm glad you could make it on such short notice. We have called you here to answer for your crimes. How do you plead?"

"Crimes?" Shepard said, her voice high in alarm. "What crimes? I just got here and I've been dead for the last two years."

"The crime of sedition and high treason of course," answered the Salarian Councilor. Naruto vaguely recalled his name being Vornigan, or maybe it was Vido. "Not to mention the theft of the Normandy SR1 and the murder of hundreds of Alliance Soldiers during the Battle of the Citadel."

"For shame, Shepard," the human councilor said. Shepard had told Naruto that Councilor Anderson was a good man. This guy really didn't look good at all, from the way he was glaring at Shepard. "For shame. I thought you were better than that. Now you have to be punished."

"Prison is too good for the likes of you," said the Turian Councilor. Naruto knew for sure that his name was Spork. Or was it Frook… now he wasn't sure anymore. "We've agreed ahead of time that you should be sent to your death in a fiery hell hole from which not even the likes of Cerberus can resurrect you, after which your remains will be scraped up and tossed into the nearest black hole with a nuclear warhead set to detonate after passing the event horizon. For what it's worth, it was nice having you work for us while it lasted."

Shepard stood like a statue in front of the Council. Her mouth hung open in shock while the Council stared at her with either looks of contempt or disgust. If Naruto had to guess, and he might have been going out on a limb with this guess, this wasn't what Shepard was expecting. In fact, it didn't make sense at all that a group as noble sounding as the Council would act like this, let alone Shepard's friend, Anderson. That was probably why he wasn't as angry as he normally would have been at these ridiculous accusations against the, clearly, innocent Shepard.

"And you!" Spork shouted. He pointed at Naruto. Naruto jumped at the ferocity of the shout.

"Me?"

"Where did you get those clothes? You look like an idiot! Why the hell are you just standing there?" asked the councilor. "And what are you even doing here? All Delta Company Troopers are supposed to be on the Presidium or the Wards. What's your identification number?"

* * *

><p>Garrus walked onto the bridge, just behind Joker's chair, and looked out at the docks from the window. He released a sigh and said, "It doesn't seem to matter what I do, I always end up back on the Citadel."<p>

EDI's avatar popped up next to Garrus and said, "The most accurate reasoning would be that the Citadel is the center of Galactic Civilization."

Joker snorted from his seat. "We have a saying on Earth. All roads lead to Rome. I guess all roads in space lead to the Citadel."

"That would be an impossibility, Mr. Moreau," Edi said, "there are no roads in space."

Joker rolled his eyes and sneered at the avatar. "Not like a stupid AI would know what a road even is."

"A road is a physical or philosophical path that an individual or groups may traverse," EDI said. "However, to assume that, as you say, all roads lead to the Citadel, as they did to Rome, is a fallacy. Rome built it's roads. The Citadel, however, did not build the shipping lanes or the Mass Relays."

Joker crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at EDI's avatar. EDI's avatar blinked out of view, no longer needed. Joker shook his head and went back to running diagnostics on his console.

"It's almost like you two are married," Garrus said. "How long have you been having these inane arguments with the computer, Joker?"

"As soon as it was installed," Joker said with a grimace. "I hate it. It'd be better without it."

"I can't say I'm all too comfortable with an AI watching our every move," Garrus said, "but at the same time, Cerberus has invested quite a lot of money into this venture. I doubt they'd do anything to make our lives more difficult… at least until after the Collectors are dealt with."

"Yeah…" Joker grinned and rubbed his back over his chair. "And leather seats!"

Garrus smirked as he went back to looking out the window. Then his body stiffened and his mandibles twitched back and forth. Joker quirked an eyebrow at the sudden tension in the air.

"Something wrong, Garrus, old buddy?"

"I'll assume that you haven't detected it yet because of how subtle it is," Garrus stated flatly, "but we're currently under a genjutsu."

Joker's eyes widened perceptibly. "What? Why would you even say something like that?" Joker entered several commands onto his console when EDI's avatar appeared.

"Only Ninja could cast the jutsu known as genjutsu, illusions that can manipulate the senses of organics," she said. "I was, unfortunately, not prepared to scan the Citadel, a location thought to be safe. However, after Mr. Vakarian stated his observation, I ran a scan and detected a massive field of chakra energy indicative of a genjutsu field. It would be impossible for a single ninja to encompass the entire structure of the Citadel with chakra, therefore it is logical to conclude that there are many ninja on the Citadel all working in concert to cast the genjutsu or chakra amplifiers placed throughout the station to magnify the abilities of one ninja."

"Damn it, EDI, you're supposed to be on top of these things," Joker groused. "Shit, we have to warn Shepard." Joker opened a channel and said, "Commander Shepard! Do you read?"

"I am receiving interference from within the Citadel on all frequencies," EDI said, then a sudden urgency entered her voice. "A fire wall has been erected around the Citadel's main computer within the last five nano-seconds. Attempts are being made to hack this vessel. The Normandy has been placed into lock down. Now deploying electronic warfare countermeasures." The lights within the Normandy dimmed slightly as several of EDI's dormant systems came on-line all at once.

"Shit!" Joker opened a ship wide channel, "All hands, we're under attack from an unknown enemy on the Citadel. Get to your stations everyone. Prepare to repel all boarders."

"Is there anyway to contact Shepard or the rest of the ground party?" Garrus asked. He left the window and made toward the Armory. "If not, I'm going in."

"Negative," EDI said as Garrus walked through the doorway into the Armory. "You haven't been cleared for duty by Doctor Chakwas. You were ordered to remain on the ship while the Commander was ashore."

Garrus grunted as he hauled a grenade launcher out of the weapon's locker and attached it to the weapon mount at his lower back. "I hope your programming doesn't expect me to just sit here and do nothing," Garrus said. "This was supposed to be a simple fly by, nothing dangerous. Now I'm the only combat ready man on the ship while Commander Shepard is out with only a hand gun. I have no doubts about her ability with a hand gun, but even Shepard can't fight off the entire Citadel."

Garrus let out a small 'Aha!' and pulled out a M-92 Mantis Sniper Rifle. Attaching I to the hard point over his left shoulder, Garrus turned and quickly made his way back to airlock. Joker glanced over his shoulder and gave a short salute.

"We'll hold down the fort here," Joker said. "As soon as they're done suiting up, Hawthorne and Goldstein will guard the door in case anyone tries to board."

"Once you enter the dock elevator, communication will be cut off," EDI said as the airlock closed and the decontamination cycle began. "I would suggest you find the source of the jamming and shut it down so that communication can be re-established. While you do that, I will attempt to free the Normandy from lock down, but I may require assistance from you once you take down the source of the jamming."

"I'm glad you see it my way now," Garrus said.

"I do not," EDI said. "However, your conclusions are logical. You are the only combat ready unit available to deploy at this moment. Combat readiness is less of a concern when the mission, and the ship, is at stake."

Garrus nodded and felt a small smirk. "Beggars can't be choosers, in other words. It will help that I've got experience dealing with rogue ninja in case I run into any of them and for dealing with the genjutsu."

As the door opened and Garrus exited the ship, EDI said, "I will be sealing the air-lock doors. Good luck, Mr. Vakarian."

* * *

><p>Miranda casually strode up to the bar in the Dark Star Lounge and motioned toward the Turian handling the drinks. He wordlessly pulled a long tube of blue-ish liquid, poured the contents into a glass, and shoved the drink on a cloth toward Miranda. Miranda dropped a few credit chits on the counter and took the drink as she went to sit in a dark corner facing the door.<p>

For the next several dozen minutes, Miranda sat and sipped her drink as she silently watched the merriment of the dancers, the idle chit chat of the people sitting at a nearby table, and the rest of the people milling about the floor. The music was loud, but not uncomfortable; a remix of some Salarian take on Human Hip-hop. Not a single thing out of the ordinary for a bar, really.

Finally, Miranda finished her drink. She stood, placed the drink on the bar, and left. As soon as the music was muted by the door closing behind her, Miranda lifted the cloth and noted the numbers "428591" written before she dropped it into an incineration chute and headed toward the rapid transit station.

A short taxi ride later, Miranda casually stepped from the vehicle onto level forty-two of the Bachjret Ward and made her way to apartment block eight. From there she took the elevator to the fifth floor and upon stepping out, made her way to apartment ninety-one.

Miranda raised her hand and knocked once, counted to four in her head, and then knocked five more times. Several seconds later, the door opened to reveal a man dressed in a white tunic and pants. His white hair and glasses did little to brighten the room behind him, which had not a single light source.

"What took you so long?" the man asked. "We've been cut off for days."

"Precautions had to be taken and I was otherwise occupied," Miranda said. "Besides, I rather enjoyed the drink." Miranda motioned into the apartment. "Perhaps we should take this inside?"

The man pulled the door open fully and stepped back. Miranda used the light from the hallway to illuminate her path until the man she'd come to see closed it. As soon as the door clicked shut and the locks clicked into place, the room lit up as bright and white as any other Cerberus base. The Cerberus gold and black logo was on the wall, the door, and every other surface that might tell anyone who looked exactly which organization operated out of the room.

"Where's everyone else, Stanley?" Miranda asked as she moved up a large holographic console projected in front of a wall. The large screen in front of the keyboard was filled with numerous video feeds streaming in from all over the Citadel… or they should have been. Over half of them were filled with static and the rest were distorted like someone or something had fudged oily fingers on the lenses of the cameras. "What do you have to report? And what does the rising levels of ambient energy around the Citadel your last report mentioned have to do with this?" Miranda gestured to the video feeds. "Everything looked fine out there."

"Smoke Cell is out gathering supplementary data at the moment," the Stanley said, "but I'm certain of my conclusion. It looks fine out there, but the cameras don't lie." Stanley closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands. "About a month ago, I sent a report to the Illusive Man regarding the rising levels of ambient energy around the Citadel. The energy was less harmful than low levels of infrared radiation and there wasn't even enough to feel on your skin. Despite this, the Illusive Man ordered us to find the cause of the rise and determine if it was hostile to the humans living here. We determined that the energy itself was a variant of Chakra about a week ago and then about three days ago, communication on private channels was cut off. The official explanation is that some idiot caused a feedback loop and blew an entire com array designated for private com-lines. But my men found no damage to the com arrays, they were just shut down and the power conduits were dis-engaged."

Miranda was silent for a moment. She took a step back from the console, crossed her arms, and tossed her head to sent her hair behind her back. "So, what is your conclusion then? The Illusive Man wasn't pleased when you failed to report in, even if it was through public channels. He wants to know what happened and why?"

"The answer is it's not good," Stanley said. He rubbed his face and his body went slack. Miranda glanced and noticed that the man did, in fact, have dark bags underneath his eyes. "We've been driving ourselves crazy trying to figure out what the hell is going on around here, but we finally figured it out just a few hours before you arrived. The entire Citadel has been put under one massive genjutsu, or whatever that mind control ninja thing is called. It's like nothing we've ever seen and nothing in the records about Uchiha or Haruno say they were capable of anything like this. Maybe on a small scale they were, but nothing like this. If everything we see and hear and touch and smell and taste can't be determined to be real or not, then any report I make to the Illusive Man is likely to be compromised, no matter which channel I use to send the report. I couldn't take that chance."

"A genjutsu surrounding the entire Citadel? That's…" Miranda paused as she actually considered the possibilities and then logistics of what she was told. From her research, she knew it would take hundreds of ninja who would all have to be extremely skilled in chakra control, something even she knew little about, to practice genjutsu. Uchiha and Haruno were both trained from a very young age to control chakra, so their ability to do so wasn't in question. But that only accounted for two of the needed 'hundreds' to pull something like this off. Maybe Naruto and his clones could pull it off, but in her research she'd found a sound recording of Sakura saying that Naruto's chakra control, wasn't. And that assumed that Sakura and Sasuke had a hand in this at all, which she highly doubted. That meant hundreds of ninja were now on the Citadel or that someone had manufactured a way to execute a genjutsu without a ninja, which was a much more terrifying prospect, if more plausible.

"I've done a little study of Chakra," Miranda said, "or what information exists about it. There is a way to break a genjutsu. Several ways, in fact. If the attacker is weak enough, then you could cut off your chakra and break the connection with the genjutsu caster. That wouldn't work in our case because we don't have chakra."

Stanley nodded. "Another way would logically be to stop it at the source. I sent my men out to take readings at different sections of the Citadel to see if we can determine where the field is weakest, or to maybe find a way to track the transmission back to its source," he said. "The hope is we can shut the signal down or get an unrestricted message out. Heh, hope. We've been using stims and hope to keep ourselves awake and get this research done."

Miranda remained silent as Stanley rubbed his face again. He took a few quick breaths, straightened his back, and moved up to the console. As he began to enter commands, he said, "They're supposed to transmit the data back here through several relays to make it look like random chatter on the public com, which are the only communication channels open anymore. But it's been several hours already and I'm beginning to worry."

With one more command, the surveillance feeds cut out and were replaced by a single image of the Citadel and its five wards. Twenty small blue dots were scattered along the different parts of the Citadel, one of which was located on the Presidium.

As they waited for one of the blue dots to light up and the computer to run its analysis, Miranda studied the map of the Citadel. It was a really massive structure housing billions of people of all races and that didn't include the Keepers population, which no one really knew. To create a genjutsu to fool all the different species, especially the chakra resistant Turians, was impressive.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"OPEN THIS DOOR!" Shouted a gravely Turian voice from the hallway. "This is a C-Sec raid! Open this door or we'll bust it down, Cerberus Dogs!"

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry, Jacob, but I can't get you anything more powerful than a M-97 Viper," said the man sitting to Jacob's left at the bar. He wore a large coat to hide the Alliance uniform he wore underneath. His brown hair and plain face blended in well with the other occupants of the bar. "Something big is going down on Earth. It's been hell getting enough weapons for the third fleet alone. I'm sorry I can't help you more than that."<p>

"It's alright, I understand," Jacob said. "I'll take what I can get. Right now, we got a bunch of M-92's and they're not doing so hot with the increase in barrier technology. Being able to put several shots into someone rather than just one is better than nothing."

The man sighed. "Look, I don't want to leave you hanging. I'll send specs for a heavy pistol the Alliance has been tweaking. It's got better power than a Carnifex and a laser sighting for easy targeting. It's not protected by any FRM, so you'll be able to manufacture as many as you want. I'll have a couple of Vipers sent over to your ship as well, but not more than five."

Jacob grinned. "Thanks man, I knew you'd come through." Jacob stood and put down several credit chits on the bar. "Drinks are on me."

"Jacob, I don't know what you're getting into, but the boys of the Corsairs are with you."

Jacob nodded and left the bar. He turned right once he was outside and started to make his way back to the dock. He'd taken care of everything he needed to and all that was left to do now was rendezvous with Miranda and then meet up with Shepard on the Presidium.

He had just walked passed an alley when a three fingered hand darted out and grabbed him. His senses went into overdrive as adrenalin made everything seem like it was moving several times slower. He pulled out his handgun and aimed it at the person who'd grabbed him before he even saw who it was. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to mug him, even on the Citadel, but he wasn't going down without a fight.

"Easy there," Garrus said. "I know we just met yesterday, but just to be safe, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Garrus?" Jacob said. He lowered his gun and gasped in slight fatigue as the sudden adrenalin rush wore off. "What the hell man? Why'd you do that?" Then Jacob noticed the sniper rifle in the Turian's hands and the grenade launcher attached to his lower back. "And how did you get in here with weapons? They let us through with hand guns and only because Shepard pulled rank."

"I'm former C-Sec," Garrus said. "They still haven't fixed several holes in security in the year and a half since I left for good. Not that I'm complaining." Garrus chuckled and hefted the M-92 he was holding. "But we don't have time for this. The ship is under attack. It's been locked down and someone is blocking all transmissions. And on top of that, there's a Citadel wide genjutsu in effect, doing what, no one knows. I'm going to go fix the com problem and hope that Shepard isn't already knee deep in whatever is going on here. This," Garrus waved the rifle in his hands, "is for pulling her ass out of the fire when we find out that she is."

"I would have thought that _you_ would have more confidence in the Commander," Jacob said.

"Oh I'm very confident that Shepard will find all the trouble in the world," Garrus said with a slight grin. "In fact, I can almost guarantee it."

Jacob blinked a few times in silence as he watched Garrus check to make sure his gun was in working order. "Damn…" Jacob said, he checked the heat level of his pistol and the number of extra thermal clips he had. "Do you know where the jamming is coming from or who's attacking the ship?"

"I don't know who it is. Presumably the one who's cast the genjutsu is the one who's attacking, but I know that the jamming is coming from Presidium," Garrus said. He leaned up against the wall and peered out in to the street with his eye to the scope of his rifle. The street, which moments before had been full of people walking about, sitting, eating, or otherwise going about their daily lives, was now strangely empty. The street was filled with that gut twisting silence that something was not right there. "Damn. They're on to us."

"What?"

"The street's are empty all of a sudden," Garrus said. "They're probably setting it up for a trap."

"How can you know that?"

"It's what I'd do," Garrus said. "We'll have to find another way to the Presidium."

Garrus glanced up and down the street again before pulling back into the alley. Then he glanced up and a grin formed on his face. "Ever gone mountain climbing," he asked Jacob.

Jacob followed Garrus' gaze and saw a pipe running up the side of the building. His assumption about what Garrus meant were quickly confirmed when the Turian walked up the pipe and started to climb. In short order, Garrus had ascended a dozen yards and didn't look like he was going to slow down.

Jacob shook his head and began to climb.

* * *

><p>"Huh?" Naruto asked intelligently.<p>

"Have you met before?" Shepard asked under her breath.

Naruto shook his head. "Even if I did, I probably wouldn't remember something like this. What the hell is Delta Company?"

The Turian councilor shook his head and glared at Naruto. "Look, I don't have time for this bullshit. Stop fucking around and take Shepard to processing. Master wishes for her information to be extracted as soon as possible."

"Yeah… I'll get right on that," Naruto said, "as soon as I figure out what the hell you're talking about."

All of the Councilors were now glaring at Naruto. He swallowed loudly but refused to budge from his spot. It was like something in his head was screaming at him to do something, anything, but his body refused to move. It was like the first time he'd stared down Orochimaru in the Forest of Death during his Chunin Exam, without the fear or the overbearing pressure from the Snake's killing intent.

Something about that comparison tickled the back of Naruto's mind. He frowned and focused on his surroundings. Yeah, now that he was looking for it, he could definitely sense it. There was the din of a genjutsu all around him. Now that he was feeling it, the feeling in his gut made a little more sense.

Jiraiya had always told him that they shared a similar disposition toward genjutsu, though after some experimentation, it became clear that Naruto was much worse than his wayward mentor. That didn't stop Naruto or his teacher from ever having to confront genjutsu in a fight though. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't have any chili pepper bombs with him at this moment, but there was always the tried and true way to get rid of the genjutsu.

Without warning, Naruto raised his hand, a kunai already in his fist, and he slammed the knife down into his leg. The pain was intense, but short lived, as he immediately pulled the kunai back out. The ache and sting immediately began to heal, but that was the last thing on Naruto's mind.

Shepard already had her hand out, probably to apply medi-gel, but Naruto stopped her. She looked at him like he was crazy, both for stabbing himself and then for stopping her. He simply shook his head and looked up at where the 'Council' used to be standing, now replaced by a single, blond woman.

She was slender, with a large bust, and a holographic visor over her left eye. Her blond hair was short, but Naruto could just make out a short braid behind her head. The one thing that stuck out at Naruto, however, were the bright blue eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek.

"What the hell? You look exactly like my Sexy Jutsu," Naruto said with slight wonder. He'd seen his transformation before, but never like this. This one was dressed, first of all, and he distinctly didn't remember ever making a clone and having it transform into a girl. That could only mean that he was looking at another ninja transformed to look like his girl form. "Who are you and why did you transform into my sexy jutsu and then put clothes on? It ruins everything!"

"What are… you…" The woman narrowed her eyes. Then her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as abject terror filled her. "You! You're him! You're you! You! UZUMAKI NARUTO! DIE!" Without missing a beat, she quick drew a handgun from her hip and fired. The bullet screamed through the air and went straight into the middle of Naruto's head, right between the eyes.

* * *

><p><span>Note From the Author<span>

Wow it's been a while. I apologize for the delay, but life happens. Among the causes for delay (all of which I won't get into but these are the highlights) are work search, chores, writer's block, and Mass Effect 3. And then after Mass Effect 3 came the writhing agony of dealing with the ending, which pales in comparison to the rest of the game. Plenty of people have voiced their opinions already. Mine align close enough to those unhappy with the ending that I don't think they require repeating. For the uninformed, without spoilers, the ending sucks, but the game up to that point is made of win. Pure win. My favorite new gun is the M-99 Saber. One-shot kills for all Cannibals is just awesome. Multiplayer isn't too bad either, I kick ass as an Engineer (my drone kills shit) and can pretty much solo with a Vanguard (Nova + Biotic Charge = Domination). I still want a new ending though.

In this chapter I introduce a several new concepts at once. I already got a note from one person who was very perceptive. I'm interested to see if anyone can decipher the clues I'm laying out now. This chapter also marks the beginning of a new arc, the divergent point from canon ME 2 plot, because I've got to get Naruto doing good stuff to clear his name somehow. I'll be mixing and matching things to make the story flow better than "Here's your next mission. Do mission. Here's your next mission. Do mission. Colony in trouble. Do mission. Recruit mission. Loyalty mission. Loyalty mission. Final mission." That may work well in a video game, but it won't work well for this story. You may have noticed how I essentially recruited 3 people in one chapter last time. Similar things will happen in the future.

Review Corner

BlueBakaNinja asked about Sakura and her reaction to Naruto acting weird (indoctrinated) and Sasuke fighting with Shepard (for the good of Humanity). Quite a role reversal. A some of you might guess, that would probably have taken some getting used to. How, I'm afraid, I can not reveal until later and must currently leave to your imaginations.

Anakin Mario Son43, I imagine Joker would be the one in charge when Shepard and Miranda are both off the ship. Miranda's the executive officer, so she'd be in charge when Shepard's off on missions and what not. And you gotta remember, there aren't ranks in Cerberus. Not like in the Alliance anyway. Plus, I doubt anyone else but Joker would take care of the Normandy as good. Also, thanks for adding this story to the Crossover Section of Mass Effect Story Recommendations on TVTropes. It's an honor. If anyone would like to check it out, the address is /FanficRecs/MassEffect.

MElee Smasher, Naruto's upgrade will be awesome. If the battle with the Collectors during the final run of the final mission was a throw down in the game, it'll be curb stomp in favor of the Normandy with Naruto's upgrade. He'll probably need Mordin, Garrus, and Tali's help to implement it though. You'll just have to wait and see what it is though.

LeadStrategist, I think you could say that there will be plenty of 'ninja' in the coming chapters, based on that last scene there. I hope some of your questions have been answered in the chapter and I look forward to revealing what happened to the Council in coming chapters. And what they think of all this "Reaper" business. Yes, I used the quotes.

Tinchek asked me how much time has passed since team seven fought with Tobi, which also is how long since they appeared in the Mass Effect universe. It is indeed two years for Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto, however, arrived in the universe a few months before Sasuke and Sakura, and Sakura arrived before Sasuke. Then Naruto got sent back to the Shinobi Planet, ten years after he left, from The Battle of the Citadel. Then when he goes back, it's been two years since that occurred. So all that boils down to Naruto being 17-18ish, Sakura being 18-19ish, and Sasuke being 19ish in this story. Tinchek also asked when the message that the Konoha found in the Omnitool sealed in a vault for several decades came from. It's clearly a message of Harbinger talking to Naruto, since he calls Naruto by name, and Harbinger was only introduced during Mass Effect 2, which was at that point, in the future. However, if I told you good readers all the answers, then there's be no mystery and then no fun. So I'll let you figure this one out.

Speedy Spazz, thanks for the note. You made me wonder if just having the names Sasuke and Sakura in the description turns a lot of people away or just the hardcore fanatics who loath those characters. If it's just the hardcore fanatics, then would it be better to not appeal to them? If it isn't hardcore fanatics, and just a lot of people tired of reading about Sakura and Sasuke and Naruto, why are they reading Naruto fanfics in the first place? Either way, I don't think I'm going to change the description any time soon, but I do want you to know you broadened my horizons a bit there.

To the rest of you dear readers who have reviewed, faved, and alerted, thank you very very much. And all of the rest of you are just as awesome. Thanks for reading chapter Eight of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission. Hope you liked it.


	9. The Unraveling Plot

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter Nine: The Unraveling Plot<p>

Last Time

_Naruto arrived on the Citadel with every intention of facing the Citadel Council. They are both the ruling body of power in the galaxy and the people he targeted two years prior in the Battle of the Citadel. No matter what he'd done before, he had to face them. His people needed an alliance and he'd be damned if he didn't get it._

_But once he was on the Citadel, things didn't add up. While other crew members were out and discovering similar circumstances, Naruto and Shepard found themselves facing the Council alone. Or as it turned out, a female version of Naruto using a genjutsu to make them think they were looking at the Council. Upon realizing that the Naruto in front of her wasn't who she thought he was, the female version of Naruto quick drew her hand gun and shot Naruto before he could move._

* * *

><p>"DIE!"<p>

Bang!

Poof!

The young woman who stood atop the balcony railing with her hand gun pointed at the cloud of chakra vapor searched the room with frantic urgency. Who knew anyone could use Shadow Clones like that? She and her sisters had figured out much more about jutsu than the other Companies in the Corps, sure, but not how to activate a Jutsu while literally being watched the entire time.

"Who the hell are you?" Shepard shouted. She had her own hand gun pointed at the blond girl above her. "And what the hell is going on here? What happened to the Council? Answer me!"

"Must kill him," the girl muttered. "He can't live. He must die. Must kill him. Must kill him."

There was a light tap on her shoulder and she spun around. She lashed out with her leg and grinned triumphantly when she caught the impossible man in the head with her heel. The heel of a combat boot to the temple was deadly, especially composite material combat boots. But instead of falling over a corpse, Naruto remained standing. Her eyes widened when she realized that he'd actually caught her foot before it hit and she hadn't even seen him move. What the hell? No one but Fox Company was that fast!

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto," the impossible blond man told her. "You look like I would if I were a girl. What's your name?"

Without answering, she kicked the man in the face and used the blow to launch herself backwards. She did a flip in the air and unleashed bullet hell upon Naruto, screaming as she held the trigger down for full automatic pistol fire. She let the gun fire until the thermal clip clicked indicating full capacity.

She remembered the archive footage of Uzumaki on Therum. The records of Uzumaki on Feros and Noveria were clear in her mind. On top of that was her master's order to the whole Corps, something imprinted upon their very DNA: Destroy Uzumaki Naruto on sight. She didn't so much fear that his skills were that much better than hers, but knew it to be so. Her only hope was to strike before he did and hope the plan she was coming up with was enough.

She landed on the bridge and searched for the body, blood spatter, anything. Naruto had vanished, though. She backed up, changed the thermal clip in her gun, and then kept her gun level in front of her in case the bastard appeared again. She stopped when she felt the cold, hard muzzle of a M-6 Carnifex Hand Cannon.

"I may not have liked Naruto much before he reappeared," Shepard said, "but he's not so bad now. You, however, just jumped up to the top of my shit list."

"Shepard," the blond said. "You know who he is! What he did! To you! To everyone! How can you just let him walk free. Side with me and let's take him down together!"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I know he's no longer indoctrinated," Shepard said. It felt like the floor fell out from beneath the blond woman as she realized that any hope of convincing Shepard to help her against Naruto was long gone by now. "Who are you and what the hell is going on here? Where is the Council?"

"I'm really in no mood to talk at the moment," the blond said. "But for now, call me Echo Ninety-nine. Activating Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu Tech!"

E-99 spun around and ducked at the same time, cleanly avoided the bullet that exited Shepard's gun, and swept Shepard from her feet with a low kick. At the same time this happened, the familiar orange glow of an omni-tool lit up around her right arm. The tool's holographic interface seemed to glow all the brighter as the room was suddenly populated by dozens of E-99s.

"You know what to do," E-99 said. The clones saluted and spread out, searching. It didn't take them long to find their target. Naruto was driven from his hiding spot on the second floor balcony with a shout as ten or so clones attacked him. He escaped by leaping over the railing and into the air.

At the same time as Naruto was free falling to the first floor, the original E-99 attempted to pick up Shepard. She was stunned and pushed back by a well timed elbow jab to the gut from the downed SpecTRe. Shepard grinned at her tactical victory as she got back to her feet and glared at E-99, who glared back while holding her gut. The blond didn't seem to be too out of breath since the armor had taken the majority of the force.

Naruto landed seconds later behind Shepard, kunai in hand. Both he and Shepard pushed their backs together as E-99 and her shadow clones surrounded them. Shepard gripped her Carnifex a little tighter as she eyed the circle of shadow clones while Naruto did the same with his kunai.

"Naruto!" Shepard whispered tersely, "Why haven't you countered the shadow clones yet?"

"Long story," Naruto said back. "I won't be at one hundred percent for a few weeks. Missile, among other things."

Shepard resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Okay then, any suggestions on how to beat these things? You know more about clones than anyone else."

"These clones aren't as good," Naruto said, "their blows felt weak when they were hitting me, and not just because they're girls. Maybe a bad mix of chakra, I dunno. But they not as strong as mine. What? You want me to make some of my own clones?"

"The effort would be appreciated," Shepard said.

"You do realize I can hear everything you're saying, right?" E-99 asked contemptuously. "Not like it matters. Thanks for telling me you're not in top form, Uzumaki. Killing you might not require back up after all. Shepard, you'll be coming with me after I deal with that thing."

"Let's finish this then," Shepard said. "Naruto, now!"

Naruto leaped toward the clones directly in front of him. At the same time, a dozen more of him popped into existence without him ever making a hand sign. The E-99 clones in front of him watched him close, now with clones in tow, with wide eyed wonder. They were so surprised they never even lifted a hand to defend themselves before they popped and left behind a musty, yellowish haze that sparkled with dissipated holographic energy. Naruto and his clones moved on and began to engage the forty or so clones filling the Council Chamber.

At the same time, Shepard brought her gun up and aimed at the original E-99 and pulled the trigger. The Carnifex Hand Cannon lived up to its name and tore through the two clones that threw themselves in front of the original. However, unlike the clones, the real E-99 had a kinetic barrier. She smirked and vanished under a cloaking field as the shot bounced harmlessly off the shield.

The clones facing Shepard, about twenty or so, took the original's vanishing as a sign and attacked all at once. Shepard threw herself to the side and rolled away from her previous spot where several clones attempted to lodge their foot into Shepard's body. Shepard then jumped backwards as a couple more clones attempted to gang up on her, and as she moved, shot at the different clones coming after her. The mass accelerated rounds tore through the clones like a hot knife through wet rice paper.

Across the room, Naruto winced when one of his clones was gutted by another clone using his own kunai. He'd never seen a disarming move like that before, he'd have to be careful of that in the future. Fortunately, the clone and the knife vanished in a cloud of white chakra vapor so he wouldn't have to worry about his own weapons being used against him. Give the enemy an inch, and they'll take a mile, after all. Or so Pervy Sage told him.

Naruto ducked under the swing of one clone's fist, leaned to the side to avoid an ax-kick by another, and then jumped straight up when a third tried to sweep his legs out from underneath him. On his way down, he dispelled the first clone with a hammer punch to the top of the head, the second with a well placed boot to the face, and the third he grabbed by the shoulder and head butted just as he landed.

The three clones exploded in their hazy yellow holographic dust and left Naruto with a small clearing around him. The entire battle had been going like that. These clones just couldn't touch him, or so it seemed. Maybe it was that he was a real ninja and these were so amateurish E-99 might as well not be even with a pre-academy student. That said, the clones were surprising him with the Taijutsu moves he'd never seen before. He was just too good to fall for them, and too fast. Speed always helps.

"I wonder if this was how Kakashi-sensei felt when he gave us the bell test," Naruto wondered aloud as one of his clones finished with a group of clones. His clone made a short leap and landed next to him.

"I noticed they're not using chakra to enhance their taijutsu," his clone said. "It seems they don't know how to even use their chakra at all."

* * *

><p>Miranda stood over the now very dead body of what looked like Uzumaki Naruto, but his armor was all wrong and he hadn't recognized her in the least when he, instead of the threatened C-Sec agent busted in the door of the Cerberus Safe-house. "If I had to venture a guess," Miranda said as she studied the body with cold calculating eyes, "That is not the real Uzumaki Naruto. And judging from how he fought, he had no clue how to use his Chakra like a real ninja. It's almost like his Ninjutsu skills were based off of watching someone else doing it without having the ability to ask that person any questions."<p>

Stanley coughed into his shaking fist as he bent down next to the fallen blond. He really had seen a Turian C-Sec agent when the door opened and was prepared to activate the Burn and Run Protocols when Miranda had struck with a very devastating biotic attack. She lifted the man up and smashed him into the ceiling, and then down to the floor, and then back into the ceiling. She repeated this several times, in his mind for the sadistic pleasure of crushing life with her mind, until the genjutsu fell and revealed the blond on the floor, dead.

The display of biotic skill and power, not to mention the threat of discovery, and the long sleepless nights had finally gotten to him. He was so close to going to the makeshift armory, getting a gun, and blowing his head off just so he could end this nightmare. If Miranda let him. Now that he thought about it, she would likely take the sadistic pleasure of torturing him by forcing him to stay alive and awake just to watch him fall apart.

These thoughts were pushed to the side when he scanned the man's active Omni-tool. "This…" Stanley said, rising excitement in his voice. "This is the data my men were sent out to retrieve! And the module that's transmitting the genjutsu signal is attached to this Omni-tool! But that must mean… my men!"

"Dead, most likely." Miranda, calm as a cucumber, like she hadn't just bludgeoned someone to death with the ceiling and floor, asked with a quiet commanding voice, "What is the range of the module? And how strong is the genjutsu that it can project?"

Stanley shook his head and stood up. He moved to the console on the wall and quickly uploaded the data he'd mined from the dead Naruto fake. The main computer processed the new data for several seconds before the results were displayed across the map of the Citadel.

"From the primary analysis," Stanley said, "each chakra transmission module has a range of about one thousand yards. But that's the max that it can carry a solid signal without getting interference. Despite that, the genjutsu being transmitted over that distance from one device wouldn't be very strong, maybe only enough to make your nose itch constantly."

"So this one has been dialed down to transmit in a shorter range," Miranda concluded. "Maybe 200 meters. If each of the operatives holding these modules has the same setting, then there has to be thousands of operatives operating on the Citadel. What in the hell? Who could muster that much Chakra enhanced manpower in such a short amount of time?"

"Who would have the capacity, manpower, and funding to do this?" Stanley asked. "It would have to be one of the Council races. The Turian Hierarchy would never clone humans to look like Naruto, or clone Naruto. Turian honor would demand they'd splice some kind of Chakra network into a Turian. Unless it was a criminal, some rogue mad scientist bent on ruling the galaxy."

"But that could be said of any species," Miranda said with a dismissive shake of her head. "The Asari are all biotics, more than a match for chakra, and are, generally speaking, peace makers. The only council races I could see doing this would be Humans and Salarians."

"If Humans were doing this, wouldn't we have known about it?" Stanley asked. "Cerberus would be the only organization that would have the guts to pull something like this, but if it was us, why wouldn't TIM tell us to be ready for this?"

"No, Cerberus has no hand in this," Miranda said with finality. "That only leaves the Salarians. Though peripherally, the Batarians have the ability to do this too, but the Hegemony haven't made any real attempts at interacting with the galaxy since they pulled up stakes two decades ago."

"The Salarian STG might have experimented with this sort of stuff," Stanley said, "but they already have a leading voice on the Council. They've never shown any ambition for power since co-founding the Citadel Council with the Asari thousands of years ago."

Miranda glanced down at the dead Naruto look-alike and grimaced as another thought crossed her mind. Naruto had been a willing, indoctrinated slave to Sovereign, a Reaper. Who's to say Sovereign didn't have a backup plan in place if the "impossible" happened and he was defeated. Could this be related to the Reapers too? There was one more group with the ability to do something like this.

"The Collectors," Miranda said with grim finality. "It's the Collectors. It has to be. They're the only ones left who have the technology advanced enough to clone an army like this in such a short time. I believe from the fact that they look like Naruto, and that they probably _are_ Naruto clones, we can confirm that the Collectors work for the Reapers as well, since they likely got Naruto's genetic code from Sovereign before it was destroyed two years ago. Why else would they have taken the Citadel, if not to open the Citadel Mass Relay into Dark Space?"

"That's an interesting theory," Stanley said, pushing his glasses up his nose, "but we really don't know what their aim here is yet. We need more data." At the harsh look from Miranda, Stanley coughed and quickly added, "But I don't see any other alternative that would readily explain the current situation."

"I suppose I can respect the enemy's ability to adapt to the opposition," Miranda said. "They threw a Reaper at us and we just destroyed it. This time they're going to try and open the relay before we even know they're here. We wouldn't have had a chance to stop them."

"If they're here to open the Relay into Dark Space," Stanley said. "Why haven't we been overrun with giant Space Cthulus yet?"

Miranda grimaced as if she'd just eaten something sour and rotten at the same time, with a heaping dose of salt. She knew why, sort of. "_They did something after Sovereign tried to access the main computer of the Citadel_," Miranda said disdainfully, like she wanted to spit after speaking, but refrained from doing so because it was an unsightly habit. "What they did or who they are, nobody knows. It's one of the greatest secrets in the galaxy. It's certainly the most often spoken about secret in the dark corners of the intelligence community. It's not that well known since most reputable intelligence agencies dismissed it as a conspiracy theory before it could work its way through the grape vine. I suppose we can put _this_ up to what _they_ did. _They _changed something in the Citadel computer that prevents it from responding to the commands to activate the Deep Space Relay."

The supposed "rumor" was also one of the greatest stains on her pride, since she was the one who had been assigned to figure out what was done and who did it. The limitless resources of Cerberus at her command and she finds absolutely nothing, which only proved that there was something because real false rumors and conspiracy theories have a trail that leads to someone spreading lies. Only problem was, there was no trail and the rumor had come from, apparently, out of thin air. She'd been forced to deliver the bad news to the Illusive Man personally. She couldn't figure out what was done or who did it or where the collective knowledge in the intelligence community originated. Ironically, the Illusive Man wasn't as concerned about the mark against her abilities as she was, saying, in the long run, it didn't matter because the Reapers would arrive one way or another.

That was just before he assigned her to shadow Shepard, who promptly died. The two failures, in her own eyes, made her see the Lazarus Project as an opportunity redeem herself. The Lazarus Project went from reviving Shepard, to enhancing Shepard. Miranda smiled inwardly at the smashing success that was the Lazarus Project, and how far she'd pushed the envelope while remaining within the constraints of the program set down by the Illusive Man.

"If the Deep Space Relay can't be activated then why are they still here?" Stanley asked. Though he still had bags underneath his eyes, dark as bruises by this point, his eyes shone with the excitement of discovery. "Keeping the Citadel under control like this has got to take a lot of resources and man power. If their main objective really was to activate the relay, then when they found out that it was inoperable, why did they stay here and continue controlling the Citadel? Unless… do you think they're buying time to hack the Citadel?"

"It's one possibility, among others, to be sure," Miranda said. She crossed her arms and studied the Citadel Map on the main display. There were now fields of energy surrounding the five Wards and the Presidium. Every now and then, a pulse ran across the fields from the Citadel Tower, as if it were alive. That was, of course, ridiculous. This was a simulation of the data mined from the dead clone. Wondering what it could mean would wait for later. "In any case, they have to be stopped. We don't need to worry about the Council Chambers. Shepard and Naruto went up there, so whatever problem has rooted itself on the tower has, in all likelihood, been dealt with already."

* * *

><p>Naruto ducked under a punch by the last of the clones near him. The elbow he drove into the clone's gut destroyed it. He grunted when the memories of his last clone being destroyed by a particularly strong Raiton attack filtered back into his mind. The clone's last few seconds of memories were of a mini-Chidori shoved through his chest. The vivid image of a fist covered with the white hot arcs of electricity and the visceral sensation of it, washed over him for a moment. Had Naruto been fighting anyone with an ounce of ninja training, he would have eaten a knuckle sandwich at that point.<p>

Fortunately for him, this living clone of his sexy jutsu didn't seem to have much training in any jutsu, aside from this shadow clone knockoff and the weird taijutsu she was fighting with. It was only a minor factor playing in his favor, but he'd take what he could get. It wasn't like these shadow clones were hard to fight, or defeat, but their eccentric fighting styles were getting the better of him every now and then, and on top of that, the original was going around, invisible, and taking out his clones from out of nowhere. He guessed if she were to focus on assassinations, she'd be downright unstoppable, but she wasn't nearly as effective in a straight up fight.

"Naruto." Naruto blinked as Shepard reappeared next to him in as her personal cloaking field fell. "They're pulling back. I have a feeling that Ninety-nine is about to create a new batch of clones. I'm nearly out of ammo and my cloak needs to recharge. We should retreat and escape to the elevator. Make a few clones to hold them off while we run."

"I don't think that will work," Naruto said. At that exact moment, he flung a kunai behind him at the clone that jumped out of the fountain with a scream. Shepard didn't even spare the chakra cloud a glance as she continued to give Naruto 'The Look', which plainly asked, 'Why are you questioning my orders?'

She and Naruto stood on the lowest level, just in front of the water fountain. E-99 could be heard talking on the higher levels as several pops proceeded the creation of dozens of new clones. It quickly became apparent that they weren't going to be able win, let alone survive.

"I never run from a fight I can win," Naruto said, "but… this is going to take Sage Mode." He made the clone seal and several clones appeared around him.

Shepard's face twitched in annoyance, but she nodded at Naruto when he looked at her. She'd follow his lead this time. "This had better work," Shepard muttered.

"I'm going to need a few minutes to gather the right amount of Natural energy and balance it out," Naruto said as he sat down on the floor, crossed his legs, and assumed the lotus position. As he closed his eyes and reached out for the ridiculous amounts of natural energy floating around him, he added, "don't let anything move me or being caught will be the last of your worries."

E-99 chose that moment to lead the charge down the stairs. Shepard steeled herself and forged straight into the fray. If Naruto needed a few minutes then he'd have them. His clones joined her as they fought hand to hand against the clones. E-99 mysteriously vanished once more.

* * *

><p>"The next best place to start a counter attack would be…" Miranda paused to study the map. "C-Sec headquarters. If we can break the genjutsu over C-Sec, we'd free up the manpower that will be needed to counter the enemies across the Wards and the Presidium."<p>

"What about communications?" Stanley asked. "The block on outgoing com traffic, well, any com traffic, is still up. Only written and vid messages sent over the public channels works, and those are obviously compromised."

Miranda turned and tilted her head slightly as she pondered an idea while simultaneously studying the bloody remains of the Naruto clone. She moved next to the clone and began a scan of the body, sweeping her Omni-tool across his body several times. A small smile crept onto her face as she studied her findings.

"Maybe," she said, "a new communication channel can be opened. While I follow this idea, please work on a program for detecting Chakra emitted by those modules. It would be advantageous to be able to avoid any future run-ins with the ninja clones."

Stanley nodded and started working on the main console.

* * *

><p>Garrus dropped from the ceiling vent and landed near silently. It would have been completely silently, but he really was still in recovery from the attack on Omega. The slight tap of his landing, however, did not attract the attention of the guard stationed outside of the C-Sec Com Array room. The guard might have looked like an unsuspecting, if hard faced, fierce glaring Turian C-Sec agent to anyone who wasn't a Turian. But to Garrus, it was clearly an Uzumaki clone with a funny looking transparent projection of a Turian around him.<p>

Garrus reached down to his boot and unsheathed a fifteen centimeter serrated blade, made to look exactly like the ceremonial one given to newly minted officers of the Hierarchy. He'd gotten cheap off of a thug on Omega. He thrust this blade into the back of the clone's neck and gave a short slash and a twist, ensuring that the spinal cord was severed and shredded. When the body fell to the ground in a slump, Jacob dropped from the vent, slightly bruised and out of breath.

"I don't know how you do all that climbing," Jacob said. "How the hell did you get through those small spaces so fast? I nearly got stuck four times and you were just gone!" Jacob then looked down from the knife cleaning Garrus to the dead Naruto on the floor. "What the hell! Naruto?"

"No, a clone," Garrus said as he put the knife back in his boot. Then he pulled the sniper rifle off his back, faced the entrance to the com tower control, and grinned a mandible twitching, fang revealing grin. It was decidedly more disturbing considering all of a Turian's teeth were, as humans called them, 'fangs'. "Just like old times."

Jacob pulled the grenade launcher from his back and took up position on the far side of the door while Garrus leaned up against the other side of the door and began to hack the red interface. "I guess it is like old times for you," Jacob said. "And these clones look just like Naruto. Maybe it's too much like old times."

"Before when I took out clones, they always exploded," Garrus said as he hacked the door. "After something attempts to hack you to death with a screwdriver, you kind of want the satisfaction of a gruesome bloody death in revenge. It was the most annoying thing in the galaxy to just watch them pop and leave nothing behind." The door's holographic interface turned from red to green and emitted a soft ding. Garrus glanced at the dead body of a Naruto clone on the floor and his mandible twitched. "Now that there I finally got a bloody gruesome death, I'm not sure which is better. Having a body left behind or not."

"I'm sure you can figure out how you feel after we clear the room and take the coms back," Jacob said. Garrus nodded at him and hit the switch.

The sight that greeted them when the door opened was not what they were expecting. At least, not Garrus. He blinked and realized he had spent too much time on Omega. Instead of bodies, whole and otherwise, strewn about the room, blood spray across the walls, and bullet holes strewn across the place, there was only a couple dozen C-Sec officers, of all species, slumped over their desks unconscious in the large, spacious room. For half a second, Garrus was almost sad that there wasn't some bloody horrible scene straight out of his nightmares to greet him. He pushed that thought from his mind and focused on the three people at the back of the room who now had turned to face he and Jacob.

They all wore C-Sec uniforms and they were all Turians. Garrus saw Jacob nod his head at the agents and Garrus nodded. He could, in fact, see through the 'Turians' just like the guard at the door. But only the three at the back of the room, not the sleeping agents slumped across their workstations.

"Who are you?" asked one of the agents who appeared to have the highest rank. He pulled out a hand gun and pointed it at Garrus, having not seen Jacob hiding in a crouch just outside the door. "I asked you a question, fool."

"Jacob, if you would aim for the back wall," Garrus said.

The three 'Turians' barely had any time to move before the M-100 made a loud FWUMP. The grenade sailed across the room, bounced off the wall behind the three 'Turians', and promptly exploded just as they were turning around to look. The explosion launched the 'Turians' across the room and left a decent sized crater in the floor.

Garrus quickly raised his sniper rifle and took three shots. Each bullet found their home inside the skulls of the three 'Turians' even as they flew across the room. The three blond corpses landed about the room, half burned from the explosion and all dead.

"Scoped and dropped," Garrus said with a grin. "Let's fix whatever these bastards broke and save the day."

"Again," Jacob said as he moved up to one of the consoles not being slept on by a real C-Sec agent. While Jacob worked his way through the system, Garrus moved to the dead Naruto clones and shot them each in the head one more time. Better safe than sorry, especially with clones of the freak healer.

"Got it," Jacob announced. "Seems they made their move on C-Sec a week or so ago. Most of the people here have been asleep as long. Good thing we arrived when we did. There." Jacob raised his hand to his ear. "Normandy, this is Jacob. Do you read me?"

"_Loud and clear, Jacob_," Joker said. The relief was evident in his voice. "_You do not know how great it is to hear your voice. Please tell me you've killed all the ninja attacking us and are calling to tell me its okay to open the doors again. Cause I really have to go to the little boy's room."_ There was a short pause and then Joker added, "_Badly._"

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Joker," Garrus said. Jacob gave Garrus a sideways glance that caused the Turian to wonder if he'd gotten the Human saying right. After a moment's thought, he concluded that Humans and their sayings would most likely forever be beyond his understanding. He'd be better off sticking to shooting stuff. "Communications are restored. How's that AI doing with the computer?"

"_Computer control has been restored and all hacking attempts have been repulsed, Mr. Vakarian,_" EDI said. _"This AI has also commandeered control of the Citadel Computer. It is the reason more Naruto clones did not swamped your location fifteen seconds after you dropped from the air vent, Mr. Vakarian."_

"Uh…" Garrus coughed. Probably not a good idea to piss off the AI installed in your ride.

"_Aww, Garrus, you made the Ship Cancer angry_," Joker said, though it sounded more like a 'take that' than a simple statement.

"Sorry, EDI," Garrus said. "Thank you for watching my back."

"_Any time, Mr. Vakarian," _EDI said, though it was clear her synthesized voice held a touch of victorious gloating.

"I'm going to try and contact Shepard," Jacob said. "EDI, could you handle coordinating with Miranda. First find out if she's safe, but we need to work together to take out however many of these clones are on the Citadel."

"Considering how large the Citadel is, it's gotta be a lot," Garrus said. His right hand twitched as it yearned for the feel of his rifle.

"_I have opened communications with Operative Lawson. My estimates put the Naruto Clone population on the entire Citadel at approximately fifteen hundred,_" EDI said. "_Finding and defeating them all would be virtually impossible before they can escape or hide themselves._"

"_That's about the same as our estimates as well,_" Miranda added as she joined the conversation. "_The local Cerberus cell has discovered a way to track the chakra emitters held by the Naruto Clones. Sadly, the cell had all been discovered except for Operative Stanley Otubak. Their lives weren't lost in vain, fortunately. I'm sending each of your Omni-tools the data needed to track the emitters. You'll be able to use this to track down any clone with one or avoid one that is coming near. The coding was done in a few minutes, so excuse the basic design of the program. I'm also working on decoding their unique communication method that seems to only link to other clone suit computers._"

Jacob's omni-tool beeped, but he ignored it and continued trying to contact Shepard. Seconds later, Garrus' omni-tool beeped. Garrus ran the detector program and pointed his omni-tool toward the three dead Naruto Clones. When the omni-tool was pointed toward the clones the holographic interface turned red, but when he pointed it away, it went back to orange.

"Damn!" Jacob pounded his fist on the desk and stood. "There's something blocking communication with the Citadel Tower. Nothing is going in or out."

"_Due to updated security measures, all remote operated video feeds from the Citadel Tower were removed after Sovereign's attack,_" EDI said. "_There is no way for me to know the status of Commander Shepard. Someone must ascend the tower."_

"That won't be necessary_."_

Garrus had his sniper rifle up and pointed at the door before the speaker had even finished. Jacob took a few moments longer to get the grenade launcher read, but he too had his weapon pointed at the newcomer. Garrus' mandibles moved back and forth in obvious surprise as he lowered the rifle.

"Councilor Valern?"

* * *

><p>Shepard and Naruto's clone reinforcements formed a half-circle around the meditating Ninja. Not two seconds after he'd begun meditating, Naruto already had a swirling mass of green energy radiating away from him. A drop of sweat dripped down the side of his face as the distinct red shadowing of his eyes appeared.<p>

Shepard and the clones, however, were too busy punching clones to notice. Shepard found it surprisingly easy to get into a rhythm of fighting with Naruto. It reminded her a little of N7 training when the conditions were to defend a package with hand to hand combat(their weapons had been 'broken' for the exercise). She and several other N7 candidates had to do something very much similar to what she and the clones were doing now, only they'd had to learn how to fight around each other before they could effectively and pass the test. Part of the lesson, of course, was to learn how to fight around others without losing battle effectiveness, even if you had never fought with them before.

Naruto, it seemed, didn't have that problem. His clones just adapted to her defensive style of SA Marine hand to hand, as if they'd been fighting next to each other for decades, instead of minutes. Shepard would later think on this and realize that since Naruto had essentially grown up fighting hand to hand with many different people, it wasn't surprising that he could adapt so quickly. Not surprising, but rather depressing. Those thoughts would come later, after she was done fighting for her life.

One of E-99's clones got through Shepard's defense and landed a blow on her gut. Before any of Naruto's clones could help her or any of E-99's clones could dog pile her, Naruto open his eyes. In the fraction of a second that it took for Shepard to fall backwards, Naruto dashed forward and grabbed her around the waist. With a casual crouch, Naruto jumped straight up.

Shepard's eyes widened as she continued to rise long after she thought that the jump would have stopped. Then vertigo set in as Naruto, still holding her around the waist, flipped in mid air. Then he slammed into the six story high ceiling. He didn't land. He didn't touch down. He didn't even barely make it. No, he slammed into the ceiling so hard his boots created a small dent in the metal.

"H-holy shit!" Shepard shouted as she dangled. It wasn't like she couldn't handle… well, scratch that. She'd never done anything like this before and it was pretty far outside of her imagined experience. Not even scaling the Citadel Tower was comparable, as even that seemed like walking across a battle field. "Warn me next time you decide to jump onto the ceiling!"

"Sorry," Naruto said. He held his free hand out to the side and a whirling green mass appeared and quickly expanded into a spinning, four bladed, Rasenshuriken. As he swung his hand down toward the mass of clones below, and then held his hand out and created another, he said, "I really wish Kurama wasn't out like a light. If I could have gone into Nine-tails mode, this would have been over in seconds." Naruto sighed and hung his head, at least, as best as he could while hanging from the dented ceiling.

Below, Naruto clones distracted the E-99 clones by jumping about and evading any hits that the much slower clones tried to make. That went on until Naruto dropped the two Rasenshuriken on the crowd. The whirling balls of wind chakra natured ultimate form copy of a Tailed Beast Ball attack exploded in their screaming wind fury.

When the banshee cries of the wind died down, the air cleared of dust to reveal that the entire floor had been leveled, scoured, clean. Gone was the water fountain, the small parks, the benches, the trees, the stairs, the second floor, the second set of stairs, the little bridge in front of the Council's balcony, the Council's balcony, the small park overlooked by the Council's balcony and underneath the bridge, and pretty much everything else. Even the elevator entrance was mauled beyond recognition, though the elevator itself somehow had survived the reckoning of wind and was merely missing everything above five inches from the flooring. The scouring was so thorough that the floor had been eaten through until only a thin layer of metal remained. Space could be seen on the other side in several places and one of the arms of the Citadel beyond that.

"Uh…" Naruto chuckled. "Oops. Uh… could we… maybe… not tell anyone about this?"

Shepard snorted. "I'm actually more surprised this didn't happen sooner than it did. Whenever we'd fought before, you or your clones, things like this happened a lot earlier. The longer the fight against you took, the more collateral damage there was."

"Heh… hehe…" Naruto scratched the back of his head and tried to act contrite. Slowly, the red shadowing around his eyes began to fade. "I could have gone all out with a bunch of shadow clones, actually. I was just trying to hold back the damage so that when we found the real Council, I could say I didn't mess their place up when we found them."

Shepard snorted. Hanging upside down as they were, she chose to cross her arms and glanced 'up' at the damage wrought. "Somehow, I think holding back made the universal law that says you have to cause more damage as time goes on spring like a rubber band."

"I didn't mean for that to happen," Naruto said, an undercurrent of desperation in his voice. "I thought this place was supposed to be built out of some indestructible metal or something. That's what the computer said. How was I supposed to know that a couple of S-rank attacks would be the only things they couldn't stand up to?"

"You weren't."

"Huh?" Naruto looked to his left and blinked. Only now did he realize that he'd dropped out of Sage Mode and was no longer capable of feeling the person that had, apparently, snuck up on them under a cloaking field. The opening that provided was gladly taken when a huge Overload tech blasted Naruto, and consequently Shepard, from behind.

E-99 emerged from her cloak just as Naruto's paralyzed body released its hold on the ceiling. Shepard, just as paralyzed, was released from Naruto's grip. E-99 looked 'up' and jumped straight at Shepard. As she shot past Naruto on the way back to the floor, she grabbed Shepard, and flashed a disturbingly sweet smile at Naruto.

"Thanks for the fun, Uzumaki," she said as she sailed past him. "It was fun watching you play out according to the script we wrote. Who knew you were actually this predictable?"

At that moment, another Overload tech was launched, this time directly E-99. She, of course, didn't see it because it was launched from the wall facing her back. The shock short circuited her cloak and now she too was paralyzed.

Another person, cloaked, swooped in, said a quick "Hithnxbai!" and then was away, Shepard being taken with whoever it was. Then the shots rang out. E-99, sadly, couldn't dodge in mid air. Fortunately, she didn't feel the first three, as her kinetic barrier took the blows. The next forty-seven shots she felt. All over her body bullets entered her and destroyed any hope of regenerating or surviving after she impacted with the floor, without Medi-gel anyway.

E-99 smiled as she realized that she could easily escape by donning her helmet and running out one of the holes in the floor. The suit, though punctured by fifty snipe rounds, was self sealing and could withstand the rigors of space walking. She could heal herself outside and escape back to the master. Unfortunately, E-99 failed to recall until her bleeding body flipped over just before smashing into a scoured part of the metal floor that Uzumaki Naruto, the most unpredictable ninja in the universe, was right behind her. And he was both angry, recovered from the paralysis, and holding a swirling blue ball of death in his right hand.

"Rasengan!" he shouted as he slammed the sphere of swirling Chakra into E-99's chest. The swirling mass of deadly blue chakra quickly ate into and ground through E-99's chest and continued down and out into space on the other side of the, now, very thing flooring.

E-99 swore in her head as she realize she really was dead meat now. She couldn't regenerate from that, even with Medi-gel. No she was screwed. As the darkness swallowed her, she took consolation in the fact that the impact of her and Naruto's body on the fragile floor caused the thing to crack and explode into space.

E-99's failure was complete, however, when Naruto simply jumped away from the falling metal flooring back through the hole it had left, and landed back in what was left of the Council Chambers. He looked left, then right, and seeing no further cracks in the floor, let the breath he was holding out. "That was too close."

He suddenly found several sniper rifles pointed at him as a couple dozen Salarians de-cloaked. Naruto slumped his shoulders, defeated, and weakly raised his hands. "Uzumaki Naruto," one of the Salarians said, "You are under arrest."

* * *

><p><span>Note from the Author<span>

And that ends this installment. Who knew that those Salarians were so crafty and stuff... I mean, you'd think they would have thought up a ridiculous plan of planting a jury rigged ship reactor core to explode in Saren's cloning facility or something crazy like that. Oh wait...

I apologize for taking so long to post this chapter. Writing the fight scenes was fun, until I thought of something that would make it more awesome and then had to rewrite the whole scene as a result. This happened not once, or twice, but four times. Happily, they're semi-satisfactorily complete now. Thank you for your patience.

I read somewhere, I think it might have been on TVtropes, where someone described Garrus as the Turian Batman... needless to say, I'm now going to angle toward that awesome emulation. Does that make Jacob the Boy Wonder? ... will he have to wear tights?

I would like to talk about one subject that most authors on FFN have to deal with one way or another. Reviews. Specifically, the review count. Now, I don't think that asking for, begging for, or cajoling for reviews from your readers is bad, asking for criticism is a pretty mature thing for any writer to do, but doing so leaves a little bit of a sour after taste for me. I like to think that if people want to review my works, they do so, and hopefully they impart their joy of reading the story and their desire to see the work improved by suggesting things that they saw that could be better. But let's face facts. As much as I like getting reviews, reading the wonderful comments of readers, the greater benefit of having lots and lots of people review is driving up the review count, which as much as I am loath to admit, even I use to determine if I would read a story. The review count is a measure of how "popular" a story is, and since apparently everyone still lives in Highschool, popularity is Important Business. So, the basic equation goes, the higher a review count = more readers = more popular story. Has almost next to nothing to do with the writer, though good writing certainly helps, and almost everything to do with the readers. Yes, the readers determine how popular a story is, and thus, can and do influence how many people actually read any story.

So, readers of my little crossover story here, let's me put some maths before you. As of the posting of this chapter, 4651 unique visitors have viewed my story. That's not hits, but unique visitors. Maybe some people repeatedly visited, so let's just divide that number by 4. That's 1162 people that have visited this story and read all its chapters. 87 of all 4651 visitors have faved the story as of this chapter. If one-forth of the people who'd viewed this story had reviewed, this story would have shot to the top of the most popular mass effect/naruto crossover list. If the 87 people who have faved the story so far had reviewed every chapter, then the story would have had 869 reviews. Now, I may be tossing around a bunch of numbers and be sounding like a bufoon here, but I am not asking for you to review just to make my story more popular. I am simply pointing out that it is not I, the writer, who has power over how popular this story becomes, but you, the readers. So, if _you_ would like to see this story more popular, then by all means, do what you feel necessary to make that happen. Ok, maths lessons over.

Ironically, I'm okay with whatever the good readers decide that they want. The reviewers that have reviewed so far are just awesome. Their questions, advice, and theories on everything so far make writing this awesome. Thank you to all that have reviewed so far. Speaking of reviews...

Review Corner

LeadStrategist, I hope this chapter answered your questions about the nature of these Naruto lookalikes. If not, then keep watching, because all will be revealed in time.

MEleeSmasher, I'm sorry to say, but this will not be a weekly release, if that wasn't obvious by now. The initial release rate of chapters was mostly from my new story rush of writerly enthusiasm. Now that that grace period has passed, I must rely on perseverance and dedication to the ideas that keep popping up in my head. Truthfully, this chapter would have been done sooner if I hadn't continually gone back and forced myself to re-write the fights. I kept coming up with new ideas to add that would make the fight better after I'd already written the scene. Having said that, I don't think I'll be writing these chapters as fast as before, though I don't think anyone will complain if I post sooner than later. And Javik, yes, is utterly awesome. Much better name than Prothy the Prothean... hehe. At this point in the story, I don't think I can fit him into this story, maybe the sequel. At the same time, I think it would be awesome to see his reaction to the Collectors, his people, or husks of them at any rate. He's probably rain his righteous vengeance down upon them like it was no one's business, all the while cursing the Reapers, but we'll have to see if I can figure out a way to dig him out of the moth balls for that possible scene to take place.

AnInappropriateName, I do like to keep characters as loyal to their canon selves as possible, at least, I try to keep them that way at the beginning. They should, as a natural course of events, change and grow as any story goes on. Being empowered by an author to always win any confrontation basically just turns any hero from any story into the author's avatar (with noted exceptions in AU stories, for their AU-ness). And yes, Multiplayer is rather decent, especially with the free update.

Anakin Mario Son43, not exactly who you had thought up, but close!

Murderous Lord, I believe I answered your questions, hopefully in a believable way.

Speedy Spazz, thank you for clearing that up. I do agree that preconceptions about stories on Fanfics tend to steer people to or away from stories, based on several factors. I already mentioned what I think of the effect the review count has, but you are right in saying that summaries are a factor too. I guess it's kind of sad that, in general, more people don't give something new and different a chance. Well, whenever they do take a look at this story, I hope to surprise them with some awesome story telling.

Quathis, you were nearly right there on the mark. You don't have spies hiding in my brain, do you?

Tinchek, yes, indeed, Turians are resistant to Chakra. Chakra is, after all, a form of energy. Turians evolved on a world with a weak albedo (how much light is reflected off of the surface of a planet) and that means that they get blasted with higher levels of radiation on the surface of their planet than what we have here on Earth. That's silver plating on their head is what protects them from sunlight on Palaven, and I figure it those evolutionary advantages would give them an edge against any energy based attacks (weak ones, as lazer beams kills people! Reapers say so.) So low level genjutsu would, in all likely hood, no effect a Turian. At least, not right away. It'd probably take weeks to effect a Turian with a genjutsu like what was used on the Citadel... oh, was that giving away too much information. Sorry. I'll stop giving plot info away, hehe. As far as Krogan go... well, I don't think they have any real resistance to chakra, more like it would take twice as much chakra to genjutsu a Krogan because they have two nervous systems. But it probably wouldn't be as difficult as getting a one over on a Turian with illusions.

To the rest of you dear readers who have reviewed, faved, and alerted, thank you very very much. And all of the rest of you are just as awesome. Thanks for reading chapter Nine of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission. Hope you liked it.


	10. The Shinobi Citadel Alliance

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter Ten: The Shinobi-Citadel Alliance<p>

Last Time

_The plot to take over the citadel has been unraveled by the Normandy Crew. Though Shepard and Naruto were woefully unprepared for the force that greeted them in the Citadel Tower, they persevered and defeated a clone of Naruto's Sexy Jutsu. Garrus and Jacob infiltrated C-Sec headquarters and Citadel Control to take down the communications block. EDI hacked the Citadel computer and obtained control. Miranda coordinated with Cerberus Smoke Cell Operative Stanley Otubak to analyze the technology being used by the invading force of Naruto clones and came up with a way of detecting a genjutsu emitter. Alone, these efforts would have been in vain, but like a well greased machine, the Normandy crew got the job done on all fronts at the same time._

_With the Citadel nominally back in the control of the Council, Naruto is surrounded by Salarians and placed under arrest._

* * *

><p>"Uzumaki Naruto, you are under arrest."<p>

Naruto didn't put up much of a fight when two of the Salarians gathered around moved to apprehend him. As soon as they grabbed his arms his legs gave out and he fell to his knees with a grimace. Using Sage Mode was _such_ a good idea, in retrospect.

"I'm… sorry…" Naruto said softly. "Didn't realize… it wasn't… so indestructible. Extranet… is wrong."

"It's a good thing we were attached to the walls with mass effect fields, then," the lead Salarian said. "Or else we would have been killed too."

At this point Shepard and a woman wearing a dark hood covering her face in shadows walked up to the small group surrounding Naruto. Shepard had her arm over the shoulder of the woman, who helped her walk. Every few seconds, Shepard twitched from the residual shock of the overload tech still bouncing around in her body.

"Now aren't you glad you listened to my little bit of advice, Major Kirrahe?" the hooded woman asked.

'_Kirrahe?'_ Shepard's head snapped up and she watched, with hawk like concentration, the leader of the Salarian force. '_The only Kirrahe I know died on Virmire…'_

"I hate to admit it, Ms. Goto" Major Kirrahe said, "but yes. In hind sight, it should have been obvious, given Mr. Uzumaki's reputation for destruction."

"Sir," interrupted another Salarian, "C-Sec is sounding the all clear. They've pushed back the invasion."

"Were there any survivors to interrogate or did they all self destruct again?" the Salarian asked.

'_Again_?' Shepard watched Kirrahe as he was told that none of the invading ninja survived, and all remains were deteriorated too fast to study. Kirrahe simply shook his head, as if he hadn't gotten his hopes up. '_What is going on?' _Shepard wondered._ 'If they've dealt with these psychos before, why weren't they prepared for them on the Citadel?'_

"Very well," Major Kirrahe said. "We'll escort Commander Shepard and Uzumaki to their ship. The Councilor wants to meet them on a vessel that hadn't been compromised yet."

The Salarians saluted and began herding Shepard, Ms. Goto, and Naruto to the elevator which was only the floor of an elevator at this point. As they began to descend, both Naruto and Shepard were wondering what exactly it was that had happened on the Citadel that they'd walked into the middle of.

* * *

><p>Miranda sighed with a repressed moan. The body had dissolved shortly after the Councilor had arrived at the Com Center. She'd cut off contact as soon as possible to avoid being tracked. EDI would make sure there was no way that this place would be found due to the contact she'd made, but Smoke Base was as good as done with. She almost shuddered when she thought of how the Illusive Man would react.<p>

She could take solace in the fact that she had captured the end of the signal that had ordered the body to dissolve and that the chakra transmitter had been discovered. It didn't do a lot of good at this point, though, since she had no body to study, but it was something. She wrinkled her nose at the stink rising from the puddle that once formed a living, breathing being.

"Well," Stanley said, "at least we know how they spread the genjutsu. Cerberus will be better prepared if we ever run-"

"When," Miranda said glumly. Or as glumly as she ever got. The way she held her posture and spoke with the flair of aristocracy had been too well drilled into her by this point to let it fall lax.

"Err… Excuse me?"

"When," Miranda repeated. "I'm almost certain that the Collectors are behind this, or related in some way. Considering the mission of the Lazarus Cell, it is only a matter of time until we run into these clones again."

"Oh, I see." Stanley pushed his glasses up and faced Miranda. "Seeing as how the rest of the cell has been destroyed, I'll be leaving the Citadel to be reassigned. Any relevant data stored here would have more use to you than to me, so I think you'd be the better one to decide what to keep."

"I'll just send everything to EDI" Miranda said. "Then we can execute the burn protocol and leave."

"I hope I get a nice, quiet, non-exciting assignment after this," Stanley said as he moved up to the computer console to begin the transfer.

"Don't count on it," Miranda said.

* * *

><p>Garrus sighed. This really wasn't his day. He'd kicked some Naruto ass, saved the Citadel and the galaxy at large from the Reapers for a second time, and was feeling kind of warm and fuzzy for a job well done.<p>

Turians don't feel warm and fuzzy.

Turians should feel cold, stiff, and unyielding like the military men they all were. This feeling disturbed his equilibrium. It was unnatural.

As if to spite him, his body was too tired and sore to complain about it. The good Doctor Chakwas told him upon his return to the Normandy that he'd strained his injuries to the breaking point and, without reservation, he would be off duty for the forty-eight hours, and the first order was to get some rest. That was fine, it's not like he would follow that order if he was absolutely needed again later on, but he sure hoped Shepard could pull her own ass out of the fire next time.

As Garrus settled down onto his cot in the main battery, he let out a soft groan. "I'm not getting paid enough for this," he muttered to himself. He had only just closed his eyes for what felt like half a second when he heard EDI's avatar pop up.

"Mr. Vakarian," EDI said, "Commander Shepard and Naruto have just returned. Your presence is requested in the Comm. Room."

Garrus thumped his head a little against the cot. Sometimes, it seemed, doctors did know best. At least those damn warm and fuzzy feelings were gone.

* * *

><p>"Commander Shepard, you of all people should be aware of how dangerous that man can be!"<p>

"I am aware, Councilor," Shepard bit out, almost shouting, "but I also have Uchiha Sasuke's assurances that Naruto is no longer indoctrinated. I may not have trusted Naruto at all, but I do have a lot of faith in Sasuke. He wouldn't lie, not about something like this. He even predicted that Naruto would come back from his home dimension to find Sasuke and Sakura."

The Salarian Councilor Valern scoffed and threw his hands in the air. Both he and Commander Shepard were arguing across the conference table inside the Normandy's Communications Room. Around the room, staying well out of the arguing pair's way, were the two Cerberus operatives, Garrus, Mordin, and Kirrahe who was also holding onto a cuffed Naruto.

"What SpecTRe agent Uchiha says does not have any bearing upon the decision to keep Uzumaki under arrest," Valern said. "The status of his indoctrination at this point is moot because he just destroyed the council chambers. He's too dangerous to let wander around on his own. I would have thought your own experience dealing with Uzumaki have taught you that."

"Uh…" The room fell silent and everyone turned to Naruto. Valern narrowed his eyes as he looked at the blond. Naruto cleared his throat and bowed so fast Kirrahe scrambled to get a hold on him again. "I'm very sorry for destroying the council chambers. Please forgive me."

After a short pause, Valern blinked and faced Shepard again. "So long as he is escorted by an armed guard wherever he goes on the Citadel and wears Chakra blocking equipment, then I believe it is acceptable for Uzumaki to enter the Citadel. Otherwise, I leave him in your custody, Shepard. I've re-activated your SpecTRe status," at this Valern raised his hand up, his omni-tool activating for a few seconds. Shepard's omni-tool beeped, and after inspecting it, she nodded to Valern. "You will have the full authority and resources that go along with that, which I'm sure you are familiar with."

"I think I can handle it," Shepard said. "I'm on a mission to stop the Collectors right now. They're abducting human colonists out in the Terminus systems, but for what I don't know. I'm currently putting together a crew to deal with them."

Valern nodded. "Unfortunately, that may have to be put on hold."

Shepard's eyes narrowed marginally. "Councilor?" she asked, almost icily. If Valern noticed it, he didn't respond.

"The infiltration of the Naruto Clones was more complete than could have been predicted. Almost all of the current SpecTRe agents in the field were compromised the moment that Councilor's Tevos and Sparatus were taken into custody. The Salarian STG would have been compromised as well, if I were captured. Fortunately, the other councilors have no knowledge of what goes on in STG. I evaded escape and used what resources and STG members were available on the Citadel to stage a counter attack.

"I discovered the genjutsu and the enemy infiltration by accident. A pure stroke of fate that I chose to randomly make an inspection of C-Sec. I found a couple of the clones with their genjutsu cloaks down and made a run for it. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a message to the other councilors in time before they were capture.

"Then the invaders took over the Citadel and used Genjutsu to make it look like the nothing had happened. The interruptions in communication and the random disappearances of various people were all caused by the invading clones. I sent Major Kirrahe the rest of the STG squad to the Citadel Tower to retake the chambers while I led the effort to retake C-Sec Headquarters.

"Until you and your team appeared, every clone we took hostage or killed dissolved before we could question or study it. However, because of your…" Valern glanced at Miranda and Jacob, "…_associate's_ discovery of the genjutsu transmitter and the detection protocols, it doesn't seem likely that they'll be able to use such a method against our forces and C-Sec again."

"What does all that mean?" Naruto asked. He swallowed when Valern snapped his head around to look at him again. "Er… I mean, that doesn't really say anything but that you guys had your cover's blown, right?"

"Essentially," Valern said slowly. "What I'm getting at is that Shepard and Agent Uchiha are probably the only SpecTRe agents that are not compromised at this point. Uchiha because he was already on this case and had taken steps to cover his tracks. And Shepard because," Valern glanced at Miranda and Jacob again. They shifted a little under the scrutiny, but didn't cease staring back. "Because you were, _indisposed_."

Shepard snorted. "That's one way of putting it. I was dead. Cerberus spent a ton of money to bring me back." She reached up and rubbed her forehead, as if to ward off the headache that seemed to always be on the attack. "I think at this point I have more tech in me than the original Normandy."

"Not quite, Shepard," Miranda said. "But close enough, I suppose."

Valern grimaced. "Your association with _that_ organization doesn't speak well of your intentions, Shepard," he said. "But unfortunately, you are all we have at the moment. Agent Uchiha has gone to ground after his last check in four months ago. You and your team are the only ones I can send to find Councilor Tevos and Sparatus."

"You keep calling him Agent Uchiha," Naruto blurted out. "You called him a SpecTRe before. What's up with that?!"

"That is none of your concern, Uzumaki," Valern said. As if for emphasis, Kirrahe jerked Naruto's shoulder. Naruto grimaced.

"Geeze, I can't believe my people want to open an alliance with a bunch of stuck up pricks like you." Naruto had expected that to be the end of the conversation, but after several long and tense moments of silence, Naruto look up from the floor and saw that the Salarian councilor's mouth was hanging open. Seeing that he had their attention now, Naruto decided to keep going. "And on top of that, you keep treating Sasuke like he's some kind of selfless hero. I guess he might have done some good things here, but back home he's one of the biggest international criminals. He helped incite a world war and all for some stupid revenge. If you ask me, I don't think it's fair that you give him a second chance and not me."

"I'm aware of Agent Uchiha's past," Valern said. "As well as your own. Haruno Sakura explained it all very clearly in her report."

"What, is she a SpecTRe too?" Naruto asked, a little bit of envy and a lot of anger creeping into his voice.

"No," Valern said. "She decided to take her own path. She worked closer with the Human System's Alliance than the other Citadel Races."

"Do…" Most of the anger left Naruto as the question he wanted to ask didn't go very well with anger or envy. "Do you know where she is now?"

"Unfortunately, no," Valern said. He turned back to Shepard. "I would have turned to her first, but she's gone missing too. That is why I must place so much on you Shepard. I'll have the relevant data sent to your ship. To make it official, your mission is to find and rescue the Councilor's Tevos and Sparatus from whomever has taken them. You are cleared to use any means necessary. I am also releasing Uzumaki Naruto into your custody to do with as you see fit. Just make sure he doesn't destroy anything important." Shepard nodded in acknowledgment. Valern glanced at Miranda and Jacob once again. "Consider this a test of your allegiance. And his." Valern nodded toward Naruto.

Valern turned to leave. Kirrahe followed. Just as he was about to exit the room, Valern paused. "If you wish for this alliance with your people, then I suggest you return the other councilors unharmed. It would go a long way toward gaining our trust." After saying that, Valern exited the room and the door closed.

Naruto sniffed loudly. "I hate politics." Every head in the room nodded in agreement, Shepard most ardently.

As soon as the airlock clicked shut, EDI's blue avatar appeared over the table. "Commander, before I cut the link with the Citadel's Main Computer, I scanned through C-Sec observation records and found a video file of the Councilor's abductions. Would you like me to play it now?"

Shepard nodded. "Go ahead, EDI."

The blue avatar vanished and was replaced by a flat screen. Video footage immediately began playing showing the docking ramp of a ship. The ship itself was a Kowloon class freighter with no markings to identify it with. Fifteen seconds into the video, several of familiar looking clones appeared, with their arms extended toward Councilors Tevos and Sparatus. There were omni-tools active on each of the seven or so clones as the escorted the Councilors up the ramp and into the ship. Shortly after the ship's hatch shut, the video ended and EDI's avatar popped back up.

"According to Citadel records," EDI said, "the ship you just saw the two Councilors board was not registered to anyone. The computer had logged it as an unknown vessel and an illegal docking to be investigated by C-Sec. Due to genjutsu, it is unlikely anyone in C-Sec ever saw that alert."

"Is there any way to track the ship?" Miranda asked.

"No, there is not," EDI said. "There were no distinguishing marks on the hull and the computer didn't have any records of registration. It is as if the ship appeared out of nowhere to take the Councilors and then vanished from whence it came."

Naruto shivered. "That's creepy. It's like a ghost ship."

"I believe I may have the answer to your problems," a young woman's voice said. As soon as she finished speaking, the young woman in question de-cloaked leaning against the wall.

"What?!" Jacob shouted. He and everyone else jerked and went for their weapons, only to realize they didn't have any. Only Mordin was ready with his Omni-tool pointed threateningly at the newcomer.

"State name and business," Mordin ordered.

"You," Shepard said. "You're the woman who saved me from E-99. When we were falling from the ceiling. I remember Kirrahe calling you 'Ms. Goto.' What happened to you? We were on our way back to the ship and you just… vanished."

"My apologies for not being more visible," Ms. Goto said with a short bow. Mordin glanced at Shepard and saw her motion to lower his arm. He nodded and the glow of his omni-tool vanished. "My name is Kasumi Goto. I work for an Asari information broker. She stumbled upon evidence of the attack on the Citadel and… acquired my services to assist in the effort to stop it."

"An Asari information broker," Shepard said. "You don't mean Liara, do you?"

"Liara?" Garrus asked.

Shepard nodded, "Yeah. I was asking the Illusive Man about my former team and he said Liara was involved with the Shadow Broker and couldn't be trusted. I was going to go look for her anyway."

"I suppose that since you already know who it is, then it would be pointless to keep it a secret," Kasumi said with a nod. "Yes, Liara T'soni was the one who contracted me. Before anyone asks, yes, those clones belong to the new private army that the Shadow Broker has grown for himself. Me and the boss lady have been tracking their movements ever since she caught wind of the Ninja Corps."

"Ninja Corps?" Naruto frowned. "What? What are you talking about."

"You fought one of them yourself, remember," Kasumi said. "The Shadow Broker Ninja Corps. Six different companies with varying numbers of soldiers and specialties. All of them clones of you with slight variations here and there. That one you fought, the girl, was part of Echo Company. They're what you might call the brains of the outfit."

"You fought a girl?" Miranda asked. "I fought a male who looked exactly like Naruto, if not for the difference in armor, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference."

"Us too," Garrus said. "Jacob and I ran into a bunch of male clones on our way to the comm. tower."

"Those would be members of Delta company," Kasumi said. "They're the grunts of the army and general foot soldiers of any operation the ninja corps takes on. Just be glad it wasn't anyone from Alpha, cause though they look the same, they're on a whole other level of prowess."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Naruto said. "Let me get this straight. Some guy named the Shadow Broker made an army of clones that look like me and now he's using his Personal Naruto Army to take over the galaxy?"

"That sounds about right," Kasumi said. "Fortunately, the Shadow Broker seems to have an aversion to operating in the open. The Ninja Corps has stayed mainly in the shadows. The Citadel Operation was the biggest and boldest move they've made yet."

"And now that they've done it once, they know that it's possible and try something even bigger," Shepard said. "Great. Another army of Naruto Clones."

"Just like old times," Garrus said. "Reapers on the horizon. Madmen running loose. And an army of blond clones out for your blood. It's like the galaxy is trying to kill us with a bad joke."

"Only this time, they're blood and flesh clones and not shadow clones," Jacob said. "Damn if you don't know how to pick your enemies, Shepard."

"The only thing that would complicate the mission to save the councilors from the Shadow Broker is the mission against the Collectors," Shepard said. "I will not sacrifice whole colonies of people just to go on a wild goose chase. On that front, I still need to pick up some more team members for that mission and it's not like the Collectors are just going to sit around and twiddle their thumbs while I deal with the Shadow Broker."

"The two missions might not be so disparate, Shepard," Miranda said. Instead of explaining, Miranda said, "EDI could you bring up the scans of the clone I took before it dissolved and compare it to what we have on file for the original Naruto?"

"Of course, Ms. Lawson," EDI said.

Her avatar vanished and was replaced with a screen showing the body of Naruto. Next to it appeared another body which looked exactly the same until several orange lines began to stretch out from each of the holographic bodies, indicating different regions of the body and their differences. Then a third screen popped up showing two strands of double helix side by side, DNA.

"_According to my analysis, the clone of Naruto contains no less than a forty different modifications to the DNA as well as cybernetic implants._"

"Fascinating," Mordin said. Miranda nodded to Mordin as he stepped forward to get a closer look at the information. "This is very complicated work, but ingenious. Modifying genome structure. Rearranging biological processes. Re-purposing organs. Splicing genetic data from varying species."

"Splicing?" Shepard said with an edge of worry in her voice. "When I hear splicing, I think of those old Earth science fiction books about monsters created in labs by mad scientists."

"Hmm… no monster or malformation present in this DNA sampling. Your worries are unfounded," Mordin said. He pointed at the modified DNA strand. "This example similar to upgrading a weapon or replacing building supports with materials made of better composites. Look here. Evidence of splicing signature. Implanted DNA of Krogan. Asari. Salarian. Even Drell DNA is present. Curious that no Dextro-amino based life forms are included."

"Wouldn't splicing the genetics of a Turian into Human be dangerous?" Garrus asked.

"Normally, yes," Mordin said with a nod. Then he started waving his arms about as he continued his tirade. "But this work is masterful. Superb. Arrogant even. Assumption that the one behind this would not mix the two species would be misguided. The level of technology needed to make these changes is very high. Maker would be able to mix any species they wanted with no downside. No genetic rejection at all. Perfect synchronization."

"What does all this mean though?" Naruto asked. "I get that it's bad, but how bad?"

"Clone would theoretically be stronger," Mordin said. As he listed off each item, he emphasized what he said by counting them off on his fingers. "Faster. More intelligent. Harder to kill. Presence of Krogan DNA indicates that regenerative traits have been added to base DNA. Asari likely for biotics. Salarian certainly for intelligence. Drell as well, known for their dexterity. Original subject showed these traits already, but with these additions, the clones would become near…" Mordin took a deep breath and then said, "…immortal. Human DNA already distinctive for its malleability. Could call this next step of evolution. Artificial evolution."

"Damn," Jacob said. "It sounds like you're saying these clones are super soldiers."

Mordin nodded vigorously. "Exactly. Super Soldiers. Unlike anything the galaxy has ever seen."

"As scary as this information is," Shepard said, "how does this align the Councilor Rescue mission with stopping the Collectors?"

"Shepard," Miranda said, "everything that Doctor Solus has just described isn't possible with present day technology."

"Indeed," Mordin said. "Genophage could be replaced with gene therapy. Lower Krogan birthrate instead of imposing stillbirths. And the possibilities don't stop there. Incurable diseases. Birth defects. All species wouldn't have to worry about any sickness ever again. Technology such as this would have relieved much strife were it available."

"So then that begs the question," Kasumi said. "Where did the technology come from? It couldn't have come from any cultures from now. I've seen a lot of artifacts first hand, but I've never heard of any Prothean technology that can do something like engineering a whole species. Or modifying one that already exists."

"The Reapers did," Shepard said. She frowned as the realization settled in. "The Reapers created the Keepers on the Citadel as organic workers to keep the station in working order and open the Deep Space Relay whenever a Cycle comes to an end. The Protheans from Ilos modified the Keepers somehow so they wouldn't respond to the signal to open the relay."

"That's how the whole mess with Saren got started," Garrus said. "Sovereign needed an agent to go to different worlds and access the Prothean Beacons so he could figure out what happened."

"Exactly," Miranda said. "Therefore, since the Reapers are the only known species to have the technology to do something like this," Miranda gestured toward the genetic comparison, "the only conclusion is that the Shadow Broker is working for the Reapers. Since the Collectors are also agents of the Reapers, it is likely that the two are in collusion."

"And just like that, the Reapers double their forces already in the galaxy," Jacob said. "This just gets better and better."

"This doesn't change our mission," Shepard said. "We still have to stop the Collectors and stopping the Shadow Broker just means the Reapers will have that many less allies when they arrive. We can do this."

"Plus, they're using my clones without my permission," Naruto said. "I can't stand by and do nothing when there are other me's out there wreaking havoc."

"Misguided view," Mordin said. "Clones are not you. Don't share your sentiments, your morals, or your strengths. Would be insult to compare clones to the original."

"Joker," Shepard said.

"_Yes, Commander._"

"Take us out of the Citadel. We're leaving."

"_Aye-aye, Commander._"

* * *

><p>Naruto sat back on the couch in Starboard Observation and closed his eyes. As serene as watching the stars pass by was, it also had the habit of putting him to sleep. Sleep was the last thing he wanted to do now. He needed to figure out what was going on and where he had to go now.<p>

As he centered himself, Naruto felt his mind clear. First order of business, figure out what the status of his mission was. His mission was to save Sakura and Sasuke, bring them back to Konoha, and make sure they arrive at the right time instead of in the future or the past.

That mission was going nowhere, right now. Sasuke was gone. The Salarian Councilor said he'd gone to ground four months previous and didn't know his location. Sasuke, at the time, was investigating the Shadow Broker Ninja Corps. It was a bad sign if Sasuke, of all people, had to go into hiding.

Sakura had vanished a while ago, but the Salarian Councilor said she'd worked with the Systems Alliance before she did. Aria, Queen of Omega, had a message for him that Sakura had given to her a while ago. That pointed toward Sakura being in the Terminus Systems somewhere. Where, and if she was still there, were unknown.

The mission to open up diplomatic ties with the Citadel Council was going great, so long as you considered 'great' to being put on a mission to rescue said council from an army of your evil counterparts. Counterparts that were changed so that they were stronger, faster, and smarter than he was. Yeah, that mission was going just awesome. Still, if he could save the council, that would mean his people would have a huge ally against the Reapers.

The mission to stop the Collectors just continued to become more and more complicated. It started out as just stopping the Collectors. Add in the Shadow Broker and his evil clone army, and you end up with the Fifth Shinobi World War… in space! At this point it almost seemed ridiculous to believe that the Collectors, and by extension the Reapers, could be defeated.

He wasn't going to use that as an excuse to quit though. If the Fourth Shinobi World War couldn't stop him, then this one sure wouldn't. Besides, everything he held dear was in the balance. If he didn't fight, the Reapers would kill everyone in his own galaxy.

The next thing he had to worry about was himself. Kurama was out of the action and it seemed like Sage Mode was currently his only means of out fighting any of these clones. If they were better than he was now, then he'd have to hope and pray he'd be able to go into Sage Mode whenever he ran into one of them. But he couldn't count on that, seeing as space had no natural energy in it for him to draw on. If they ever ran into his clones in space, then he'd be screwed. That only meant one thing, he was going to have to train his ass off.

The only question was, how was he going to train while in the middle of space? It wasn't like he could run long distance and doing pushups and other physical exercise would only get him so far. He didn't have the time to get as awesome as Lee did with weights, that took constant training over months, years even. He needed something else to help him get stronger. Another problem was that most of his jutsu were highly destructive. Practicing most of his ninjutsu on the ship would likely destroy it. Not a good thing.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Having not channeled any natural energy, not that there would be any to channel in space, Naruto hadn't felt it when Kasumi had entered his room and sat down on the couch opposite him. He also hadn't heard or smelled her. So when she spoke, Naruto screamed and leaped up onto the ceiling.

"Woah there, big boy," Kasumi said. "If I knew you were going to react like that I would have just stolen you thoughts instead." At that comment she gave Naruto a cocky little grin.

"I… uh… how did you get in here without me sensing you?"

"I'm very good at what I do," Kasumi said. "You could say that I've been trained in the arts of silence and shadows… but that would be pretty dramatic. I'm not a dramatic girl, not at all."

"Silence and shadow…" Naruto thought about it for half a second before it clicked. "You're like a ninja! But how can you do all that without chakra?"

"Oh ho, so the high and mighty ninja is looking down on little old me?" Kasumi then had to stifle her laughter as what she said registered in her mind.

"Hey," Naruto said as he dropped down to the floor. "Why are you laughing?"

"Nothing, nothing," Kasumi said, waving away his concern. "I was just thinking, if a little girl like me could sneak up on you without chakra, then you must not be a very good ninja."

Naruto scowled. "I'm a very good ninja!" Naruto shouted. "I saved my entire village from a madman who could control gravity! He crushed the entire village and then using his six paths of Pain, tried to kill me. I beat him though."

"Uh huh," Kasumi said, nodding. "I'm sure. I still snuck up on you, oh great one."

Naruto grit his teeth. "I'm more ninja that you are! I bet I could sneak around better than you could!" As soon as the words had left his mouth he knew how stupid and childish he sounded. But words were spoken and couldn't be taken back.

"Hmm…" Kasumi tilted her head as she considered it. "Challenge accepted."

Naruto felt his legs weaken as he lost connection with the conversation. "Wait… what?"

"You bet that you could sneak around better than I could," Kasumi said. "And I'm saying that you can't. So, I'm going to prove it."

"Okay then…" Naruto nodded as understanding came to him. A ninja contest then… but what could they do on a space ship? Couldn't fight. Couldn't really steal anything. Couldn't prank… no, scratch that. Pranks were the perfect idea! "Alright," Naruto announced. "Whoever can prank the most people without getting caught wins!"

"Oh, what's the prize?"

"Uh… I dunno." Naruto scratched the back of his head. "You get to brag about being the better ninja?"

"Oh, I don't think so," Kasumi said, wagging a finger back and forth admonishingly. "Looser has to give up a ninja secret to the other."

Naruto scratched his chin in thought. "Yeah," he said nodding, "that would work. Let's put it in writing though, and ask EDI to be arbiter."

"Huh?" Kasumi tilted her head slightly. "You really put a lot of thought into this, didn't you?"

"I… uh… have gotten into bad bets before," Naruto said quietly. Kasumi shrugged.

"That's fine," she said, "as long as I get my ninja secret when this is over, then I'm game."

"Hah, don't you mean _if_ you win?"

"Oh I'm going to win," Kasumi said confidently. "I'm the best thief in the galaxy for a reason. No one has ever found me. They'll never know what hit them."

"Well, I'm the most unpredictable ninja on my entire planet," Naruto boasted. "I'm also the Prankster King of Konoha. You don't stand a chance!"

"_I hereby officially declare the beginning of the Prank War between Kasumi Goto and Uzumaki Naruto,_" EDI said. "_When will the end date be_?"

"How about when the Collectors are defeated," Kasumi said. "That sounds like a good time to celebrate. I'd just love a secret Ninja technique to go with it."

"_Very well._"

Naruto grinned as Kasumi got up and started to leave. This was going to be awesome! A prank war like this galaxy had never seen before!

"Oh, and Naruto," Kasumi said, pausing at the door, "I'm up by one point." She pointed at Naruto's head, winked conspiratorially, and laughed as she walked out the door.

Naruto frowned and reached up. His hand found soft cloth instead of soft blond hair. "What the…" Naruto pulled the cloth off of his head and found… a pair of his own boxers. "No way!" Then he realized that he couldn't feel the boxers he was supposedly wearing. He pulled his waistband out to check and felt the blood drain from his head. "NO FREAKING WAY!"

* * *

><p><span>Note from the Author<span>

Hello everyone!

I'd like to make a very large excuse for the several month break between chapters. A ninja did it.

…

Okay, on a more serious note, I ran out of inspiration for this story because of the way that Bioware completely fugged the ending of ME3. The Extended Endings were nice, added in and filled holes, certainly. Still didn't take the taste of "I just sacrificed everything for _this_" feeling away. After seeing the ending once, I had no desire at all to play the game again. I forced myself to anyway, and the ending still burned. So I lost interest in the game and the story, this story as well.

It took this long for some kind of inspiration to make it back into me, but I suppose that this story has me hooked on some basic level because I continued to come back to thinking about it. Imagining different scenes and so forth. Eventually, I wrote this. Suffice it to say that I'm writing this more from Naruto fandom inspiration than from Mass Effect fandom.

In any event, I apologize if any of you felt like I'd let you down by making you wait so long. Now onto all those lovely reviews you lovely readers have submitted.

Review Corner

Quathis, you brought up a good point about indoctrination and how people drop in skill when that happens. Naruto, in the unwritten story that happens before this one, would have suffered from similar problems, but not entirely the same. I don't want to spoil the plot, because one of the characters will likely touch on it eventually, but Naruto probably wouldn't have had access to Sage Mode or any of the Nine-tails power when he was indoctrinated. Nature manipulation to form wind blade would have likely been too far beyond an indoctrinated Naruto's ability as well. I'll leave the rest of what's possible up to your imagination.

Bahumat knight, I do hope that this chapter cleared up any question you and other readers had about the clones. Yes, they are Shadow Broker Naruto Clones. Such a naughty Shadow Broker.

Azrael Duke, you mentioned the time discrepancies and you are correct. They don't make sense. It'll become a plot point later on, one which I'm sure will throw lots of people for a loop. But rest assured, the discrepancies are planned, and not without purpose.

MEleeSmasher, fear not, I have not placed Naruto into jail. Much ass will be kicked yet. Also, thank you for those two messages, they helped keep me thinking about this story and were part of the reason I continued on with this.

Shouldabeenadog and AnInappropriateName, thank you for your encouraging words. It's good to know when it starts to feel rather limp, because I know that I get kind of wordy when I write. It's an unconscious habit of mine and I appreciate that you pointed it out. I do hope Shepard wasn't boring in this one and I attempted to bring out more of Kasumi's playfulness that seemed a bit subdued in the game. My intension is to give everyone some limelight time so that they can show their improvement, but also have some stuff go on in the background too.

Blinded in a bolthole, you are correct. Shepard was very lucky that indoctrination makes its victims dumber, as it were. Naruto's no slouch, but he's not some super powerful being either, without the Fox's power or Sage mode (those two are game breakers right there). I am confused about your question, but I'll try to answer. Naruto hasn't had a need to use Henge, not really. He _could_ have used it to get into the Citadel, but he was going as a representative of his people and really, going in with a disguise on wouldn't engender very much trust in him or his people (his own indoctrinated actions put aside). As far as Kawarime goes, Naruto did use that technique when E-99 shot him in the head. Replaced himself with a clone. I hope that answers your question, if not, could you please clarify what you wanted to know.

Liger01, it's true. Naruto has been thrown hundreds of feet, blown through boulders, buildings and other hard things that his head has no business going through and coming out whole. In the case of the Krogan in Chapter 6, Garm didn't really hurt Naruto with his shove as much as when his head hit the very hard, metal wall built by the Protheans (we think, could have been someone else). Also, seeing as how Kurama was asleep and was not actively healing Naruto, his healing factor took a little longer to kick in. As you may notice, Naruto was eventually able to knock Garrus out of the way and was still conscious enough to set off the explosive tags he had a clone put on the gunship. As far as the Rasengan variant Naruto used, it wasn't the Rasenshuriken, but the Wind Style: Rasengan, which is the step in between Rasengan and full Rasenshuriken. Naruto just doesn't use it that much in the manga/anime, for whatever reason. It's still a very powerful attack, just small scale compared to the utter devastation wrought by the Rasensuriken. I could say that Naruto didn't use Odama Rasengan because he saw his regular Rasengan rebound right off of Garm's barrier and assumed that non-elemental attacks of any kind would just do the same, but I'll leave that up to your imaginations.

LeadStrategist, I do hope this chapter answered your question about the clones. In truth, I hadn't realized the potential of this clone army I'd invented off of the top of my head until after I wrote this chapter here. My future plans have had to be adjusted slightly to compensate, but not too much. Expect Ninja Corps to play a big role in the coming events.

RandyKaguyaofthewasteland, you have a lot of really good questions. I believe I've answered your first question, if it was about the clones and their regeneration, in this chapter, but the answer is most definitely yes, right on the money, spot on. Krogan DNA, to be specific. And since we're on that subject, let's all just assume that any developments with DNA and chakra and stuff on that front that the Shadow Broker comes up with, the Collectors get their hands on as well. So for your second question… you'll just have to wait and see. The clones were obviously _made_ with reaper tech, so the cybernetic enhancements in them had no bearing on their infiltration abilities (That was taken care of by the genjutsu emitters, which really has no defense in this galaxy. The galaxy's first encounter with chakra only occurred two years previous, during the Geth/Reaper War). As for your final question, you'll just have to wait and see.

Scapheap, the whole SpecTRe/Spectre thing is just my own odd little way of writing it. Even in the games it's spelled Spectre, but I just want to be odd about it, I guess. I hope it's not too intrusive.

To the rest of you dear readers who have reviewed, faved, alerted, and waited these many weeks patiently, thank you very very much. And all of the rest of you readers are just as awesome. Thanks for reading chapter ten of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission. Hope it lived up to your expectations.


	11. Ninja World Intermission 2

Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

_All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto._

_All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare._

* * *

><p>Chapter Eleven: Ninja World Intermission 2<p>

Last Time

_Councilor Valern reveals that the Turian and Asari Councilors were kidnapped by the invading force. He reinstated Shepard as a SpecTRe and charged her with finding and rescuing the Councilors from whoever took them. In response to Naruto's request to open diplomatic ties, Valern says that if Naruto managed to assist in the rescue of the Council, they'd be more open to the possibility._

_Kasumi Goto later revealed that the unknown intruders were part of the personal army of ninja clones grown and working for the Shadow Broker. Kasumi herself works for Liara T'soni and was asked to aid Shepard in her quest to save the Council. The crew comes to the startling conclusion that the Shadow Broker is in league with the Collectors, and thus, the Reapers._

_Now, the crew sets off into the Galaxy to start the next leg of their quest. However, back on Naruto's home planet, things are progressing at a much different pace…_

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Tower, Konohagakure, Four months before the Summit<strong>

"Hokage-sama!"

The scratching sound of a pen on paper didn't stop even as Kakashi waved the chunin into his office. He didn't acknowledge the other ninja as he put the pen down and read over what he'd written. Then he picked the pen up again and scribbled his name on the bottom. After that he dribbled some hot wax onto the page and pressed his seal into it.

With all of that done, Kakashi leaned back and looked at the brown haired chunin standing in front of him. One of the new ninja from after the war, young, idealistic, hard working. Perfect office worker to boot. It was why Kakashi had snapped Ken up before he could be put into the field after making Chunin.

When Ken noticed that Kakashi was now paying attention to him, he bowed and then stepped forward. He silently placed a large scroll atop the Hokage's desk, took a step back, and bowed again.

"I was digging through the archives on time travel, just as you'd requested, Hokage-sama," Ken reported. "I found many reports of rumors that had been reported since before the village was founded, but nothing conclusive. One even referenced Uzumaki Naruto. The account written was by the Fourth Hokage, but even though that report led nowhere, it did lead me to this. I found it hidden behind the shelving where the Fourth Hokage's reports were stored."

"I see…" Kakashi said. He reached out and lifted the large scroll up easily, turning the sealed shut roll of paper this way and that as he studied it. "So Naruto has traveled through time before. Somehow, that doesn't surprise me. It's too bad he left a few days ago. Maybe he would have remembered something. Why haven't you opened this scroll yet?"

"That's why I brought it to you, Hokage-sama," Ken said. He pointed at the far end of the scroll, the one side that Kakashi couldn't see from how he currently held it. "There's no instructions or obvious seal for releasing the scroll, but there are three names written on it."

Kakashi turned the scroll over and noted that, quite correctly, there were three names on the end. And his was one of them. Hatake Kakashi, Might Guy, Yūhi Kurenai. All written in the neat script of the Fourth Hokage.

"Well that's interesting," Kakashi muttered. He glanced at Ken and nodded. "Thank you Ken, you can go back to your search. I'll deal with this."

"Right away, Hokage-sama!" Ken bowed and quickly left.

When the room was empty, Kakashi said, "Bring me Gai and Kurenai please."

There were two soft woosh sounds. Five minutes later, there was another pair of woosh sounds, followed by Guy and Kurenai walking in the door. They both looked confused, but ready.

Guy, for all his proclamations of the power of Youth, was looking his age. Yes, he was a very fit man, but his gray hair made sure to reinforce the idea that he was a very fit, and very _old,_ man. He even had the collection of wrinkles, all of them from smiles, to go with the scars he'd picked up from the war. Sadly, Kakashi still couldn't get the man to stop wearing that hideous green jumpsuit.

Sarutobi Kurenai, having taken Asuma's name after the war, aged well. She didn't espouse the glories of Youth, but she was _still_ a good looking woman. Kakashi didn't really know if he could say he'd known any other woman who'd aged so gracefully, let alone a kunoichi (Tsunade did not count as he had no clue if he had ever seen her true looks in his entire life). Sadly, she'd essentially given up on being a ninja to raise her son, but a little birdie mentioned that she had found a protégé in one of Hinata's students, Nakamura Yoko. Only time would tell what would come from _that._

"Kakashi, my **Youthful** rival!" Guy boomed. Kakashi winced. Guy just grinned and continued to bulldoze forward. "Ah, my apologies, I meant to say, Hokage-sama, my **Youthful** superior! For what reason have you summoned us?!"

Kakashi coughed into his hand and let the silence last a little bit longer than it might have needed. In truth, he was waiting for his ears to stop aching. It was when Kurenai's scowl deepened that he decided to speak.

"A scroll was found with our names on it hidden within the depths of the Hokage's Sealed Vault," Kakashi said. "Five minutes ago, in fact. I've been having a chunin go through the vault in search of anything pertaining to time travel in the hopes of understanding what happened to Naruto."

"You believe Naruto-kun traveled through time…" Kurenai tilted her head in thought. "I suppose it's possible. The amount of power said to have been unleashed in that final attack was immense."

"Yes, however, this scroll predates the war by a good seventeen years," Kakashi said. "I believe it was drawn up and sealed by the Fourth Hokage himself shortly before his death. He hid the scroll behind another one he'd written that referenced time travel as well. I can only conclude that this scroll is related somehow."

"Well then why haven't you opened it yet?" Kurenai asked as Guy picked up the scroll Kakashi had been making motions toward as he spoke. "Even if it has something important inside of it, why call us here. Why call me? I'm not an active ninja anymore, so if the contents are classified, I'm not cleared for something like this."

"Hmm…"

Kakashi arched one of his eyebrows and shifted his gazed from the slightly irate Kurenai to the clearly perplexed Guy. "Find something, Guy?"

"This scroll…" Guy said. "It looks sort of familiar. I feel like I've seen it before. What about you, Kurenai?" Kurenai looked to Kakashi one last time, asking for permission. Kakashi shrugged, classified secrets be damned, he wanted that scroll opened.

Kurenai took the offered scroll and started looking it over. She'd only been looking at it for several seconds before her eyes widened. She immediately flipped the scroll over to look at the end with the names on it. Her mouth opened and closed, but she couldn't find her words for several minutes.

"I… I remember this scroll," she said softly, once she'd figured out how to speak again. "I remember this scroll! I can't believe I forgot and now I remember. That's right! The Fourth Hokage wanted to keep whatever was in this scroll a secret and locked up tight in case something happened to it."

"Ah yes, now I remember," Guy said. He had a hand rubbing his chin while the other cupped his elbow. "The Yondaime wanted to insure that this scroll was only opened at the right time. When Kakashi is Hokage. It sure took a long time for that to happen! Hahaha!"

"But this doesn't make sense," Kurenai said. "Why would I forget? Why would Guy?"

"It was probably a memory seal that had specific requirements that had to be met," Kakashi said. "Once they were, the seal would release and you'd get your memories back. They used to be put on deep cover operatives as a way to prevent them from going local. I say 'used to' because the seals weren't always effective one hundred percent of the time. The results of using a faulty memory seal ranged from falling into a coma to going insane and gouging your own eyeballs out before trying to kill anything around you. For example, some agents reported the successful 'assassination' of inanimate objects."

"Oh… my… I…" Kurenai took a step back and looked down at her hands. "I… am I going to… to…"

"Hmm…" Kakashi studied the two in front of him for several seconds and then shook his head. "Nope. It would have happened by now. And let's not forget that the one who likely applied the seal was the Fourth. It's unlikely that a seal master of his caliber would apply the seal incorrectly." After a heavy moment of contemplation, Kakashi clapped his hands and used his most happy voice to ask, "Why don't we open the scroll then?"

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Tower, Konohagakure, Two months before the Summit<strong>

"Hokage-sama, Lady Tsunade has arrived and is waiting for you in the ANBU Decryption Division."

"Thank you, Himeko-chan," Kakashi said with a short wave to his secretary. Himeko smiled as she nodded and then left. Kakashi finished reading the report in his hand before he picked up a big stamp and smashed it down onto the paper. When he pulled the stamp back, the word "REJECTED" was sprawled obnoxiously across the page in large red Kanji. "As much as I would enjoy having Jiraiya-sama's famous Maid Cafe from Icha Icha actually built, I do not think it should be done with Konoha funds. I do hope they still build it, though…" With a sad sigh, Kakashi slipped the paper into the outbox on his desk.

Kakashi made his way from the tower to the hidden ANBU headquarters, right underneath Naruto's old apartment. Kakashi still got a kick out of the fact that Naruto never once realized how many high level ninja were coming and going at all hours of the day. Once inside, he quickly found his way down to the underground level that was home to the Decryption Division of ANBU. There, as expected, he found five rows of desks stretching from one side of the whole level to the other. Standing next to the door was none other than the woman he'd come to meet.

"Kakashi, I hope you've got a good reason for calling me back from the capitol," she said irritably. "We were in the middle of crafting a new trade agreement and you should know how important that is to the Land of Fire and its allies."

"Well then let's not waste any time then," Kakashi said. He immediately started forward into the room and stopped next to a desk upon which sat a computer. The computer had wires stretching out from the inside of it to a small bracelet of some sort. Next to the bracelet sat a small round disk.

Kakashi picked up the bracelet, detached the wires, and slipped it on. Kakashi flexed his arm and then reached over and touched the bracelet with one of his fingers. A small arch of electricity jumped the gap from Kakashi's finger to the bracelet. Almost immediately, the orange interface of an Omni-tool appeared over Kakashi's right arm.

"Kakashi!" Tsunade started. "That's… That's the same thing that Naruto had!"

Kakashi nodded. "Yes. I'll explain in a bit how I got my hands on this, but first I'd like to show you a message that we found right after starting it." Kakashi fiddled with the interface of the Omni-tool before a three dimensional image was projected in front of them.

"_**Your efforts have only succeeded in delaying the inevitable, Uzumaki Naruto…**_

* * *

><p><strong>Shinobi Congress, Land of Iron, Second day of the Summit<strong>

"I'd like to thank you, fellow Kage," Gaara said. "While I do believe in the vision we decided upon yesterday, I think it prudent to deal with the logistics of this as only Kage can. The manpower, the research staff, and the knowledge base for the Project will come from the Shinobi forces that we currently command and the civilians we currently protect." The other Kage who sat at the large round table all nodded. Hatake Kakashi was to Gaara's left. Chojuro was to his right. Across from Gaara sat Kurotsuchi and Killer B. "First, though, I noted yesterday that the decision to choose the ruins of Uzushiogakure as the site of our research base generated a diverse range or reactions in each of you, not all of them pleasant. I would like to hear your opinions on that matter, as there was no time given at the meeting to hear them."

"Uzushio used to be a den of evil," Chojuro said. "All of the legends, tales, stories, and myths I've heard of that place say only one thing. The people there delved into the dark arts, even by Shinobi standards. Who's to say that the land itself doesn't have some memory of the darkness that resided there? Who's to say the residents didn't craft one of the seals they were famous for to inflict their revenge upon anyone who treads their lands, decades after their demise. The Lands of Water do _not_ support the decision to locate our allied headquarters in that damned placed."

"Come now," Kakashi said in his most pleasant manner. "I didn't think the people, let alone the Kage, of the Lands of Water would be this superstitious about a hidden village they _wiped off the map_ several decades ago."

Rather than let his pride be insulted by the subtle jab by Kakashi, Chojuro let his head dip in shame. "It pains me to say it, but this is one thing where it is better to be paranoid than to be sorry. They were making deals with death gods before they were destroyed. _Nothing_ good can come from that."

"I heard it was only the Uzumaki Clan who did those things," Kurotsuchi said. "It happened so long ago that I can only wonder what was going through their heads that would compel our ancestors to attack and destroy such a minor village."

"The reservations of the Mizukage are noted," Gaara said, "however, we're getting off topic. We're not here to ruminate about the decisions made by leaders of two generations ago. We're here to iron out any concerns and details regarding the establishment of the base in the ruins of Uzushio."

"If there is any voodoo left in Uzu, our Ninja Scouts will flush them out!" B said.

"Exactly," Kakashi said. "What the Raikage said."

"Frankly, I'm still not sure what he's saying half of the time," Kurotsuchi said while pressing one of her hands to the side of her head to ward off a headache.

"I believe," Kakashi said, "it would be prudent to put whoever is in charge of logistics in charge of basic construction and land management as well. They'll be on site after the initial scouts clear the ruins."

"But who will be in charge of Logistics?" Chojuro asked.

"At the risk of making all other ninja sound stupid," Kurotsuchi said, her mouth twisted with disgust as she spoke, "I believe a Nara should be the one in charge of Logistics. As much as Nara are hated in Iwa for being stalwart Konoha Shinobi, they're also well respected for their intelligence. In these more… peaceful times, I suppose it would be more palatable if we put aside our biases and put the people who can do these jobs the best into the places they need to be." Kurotsuchi fell silent after her speech, growing uncomfortable to the point that she growled at the other Kage.

"I concur," Gaara said. "Though, I am loath to nominate any particular Nara, I believe Nara Shikaku or Shikamaru are capable of the post. Both displayed their tactical genius on and off of the battlefield before, during, and after the war."

"Unfortunately, I've already assigned Shikamaru to the research division," Kakashi said. "He's currently deciphering the combat recordings stored on the omni-tool and working with a team to update our concept of combat."

"For what reason?" Chojuro asked. "Most of the veterans of the last war are still able bodied and young. I would think they could adapt fairly quickly to whatever they encounter. Shinobi aren't _that_ weak."

"Overestimate us at your own peril," B said, "Going in unprepared means giving up to the devil."

"There were video recordings of some of the battles that Naruto was in on the Omni-tool," Kakashi said. "They depicted battles in space, _without_ gravity. Battles between star ships as large as a village, some bigger than that. Mechanical beings that can think on their own. Alien planets with creatures that burst out of the ground and spit acid. And those are the benign examples. Don't ask about the Thresher Maw. Our forces are adaptable," Kakashi acknowledged, looking around the table at each of the other Kage. "But we're about to take a two thousand year leap forward in technology and warfare. Shikamaru is leading the effort to determine just how much the concept of combat has changed from what we know and how to adapt to those changes before we even arrive."

"I see your point," Chojuro conceded. "It's hard to imagine such a large leap in know-how can exist. Are we even capable of making such advancement?"

"The choice to accept this challenge or not is out of our hands," Gaara said. "The Reapers have already declared their intentions. We can either respond or die."

"Now, now," Kakashi said jovially, completely shattering the dark, somber atmosphere that had settled over the meeting. "Let's not get depressed about things we can't change. I believe that Shikaku is able to fill the position. So let's move on, shall we?"

"What about resources?" Kurotsuchi asked. "Where are we…"

* * *

><p><strong>At the same time, elsewhere in the Land of Iron…<strong>

The snowflakes fell gently. They always fell gently. In all his life and in all the times he'd traveled to the northern parts of the Land of Lightning and Iron, he always found snow and it was always falling gently.

"Omoi-Sensei!" cried out one of his students from behind him. Omoi turned his head slightly and looked past the hilt of his sword to the three fourteen year olds pushing their way through knee deep snow. Each of the teens was doing their best to move quickly, but it was clear that they were all freezing. "Sensei! Slow down and wait for us!"

"As I recall," Omoi said while tilting his head backward contemplatively, "the three of you requested in no uncertain terms a c-rank mission that would push your skills to their limit."

"But sensei," the only male, a brunette named Hiroshi, whined, "this is insane. I meant something like fighting a bunch of bandits or a group of rogue ninja, not walking through a blizzard in the middle of winter in the northern parts of the Land of Iron."

"Then perhaps in the future you'll think more about what you say before you say it, don't you agree?" Omoi responded as he rolled a lollipop around in his mouth.

"Sensei!" Omoi looked up from the panting Hiroshi at his other two students pulled up the rear, creating their own little canyons in the snow as they moved. "Sensei," said Rei, the black haired girl cried as she came to a stop, "the next time 'Roshi-baka gets the bright idea to ask for a harder mission, please let me beat him to a pulp first before you agree."

"Oh, I don't know," Omoi said with a slight hop in his step from his perch atop the snow. "It's turning out to be a wonderful stroll for me, up here in the mountains. We should take these delivery missions more often."

"Sensei is cruel," the last genin, Ai, said. She pulled her dark brown cloak tighter around her head, obscuring her short white locks further.

"Come now, it's not much farther, and you three aren't going to give up, are you?"

"No, sensei," all three said wearily at the same time.

"Come on, then," Omoi said as he took off at a light jog. It really was cruel in a way. Here he was, using chakra to walk atop the snow as if it were as solid as a rock, while his students had to slog through it the hard way. But he knew that in the long run, they'd benefit from it.

Behind Omoi, his three genin dropped their heads in frustration. "'Roshi-baka. I'm so going to kick your ass after we get back to Kumo!"

"Not happening," Hiroshi said as he took off at a quick pace. "We both know you'll only trip before you get anywhere near me! Sucker!" Hiroshi was just fast enough to outrun Rei as she screamed bloody murder in her attempt to catch and strangle him. That was before she tripped over something and fell face first into the snow. More screams could thus be heard from beneath the white blanket of ice crystals.

Ai took several seconds to catch her breath and wearily followed after her troublesome teammates.

* * *

><p><strong>Town in the middle of Tea Country, Two days after the summit…<strong>

"Hey, have you heard?"

"Huh?" asked the balding man selling fruit at the open air market. "Heard what?"

The customer, a plain looking man in a blue kimono looked back and forth several times before he leaned forward. The fruit seller leaned forward himself. The customer conspiratorially whispered "Rumor has it that the explosion in the north of Fire several months ago was actually a jutsu gone wrong. And that the one who caused it was none other than the Lost Hero, Uzumaki Naruto."

"What?!" The fruit seller shouted. "That's stupid. Everyone knows that guy is dead. He died in that stupid war ten years ago. There's no way that could be right."

"Hey man," the customer said, throwing his arms out. "I'm just telling you what I head. And it's totally legit. My info comes from a ninja out of Konoha! I'm serious. They're totally trying to keep under wraps that Uzumaki Naruto has returned! They say he's gotten really huge and powerful. More powerful than ever before. That explosion was just him testing out his weakest jutsu and he messed it up or something."

"Oh yeah?" the fruit seller asked incredulously. "If that's true, then where the hell has he been for the last ten years? What kind of Hero runs off at the climax of a war? Huh? Eh?"

"I don't know that!" the customer shouted back. "All I know is that he's back, and the weirdest part is that he's still the same age as when he died. Some are calling it the miracle resurrection. I've heard other say something similar happened in Konoha when the leader of Akatski attacked and killed everyone in the village with one attack. It happened before the war. Uzumaki Naruto is said to have come in to Konoha after it was flattened like a pancake, and then whoosh! All of the sudden, everyone who died came back to life again!"

"Hmph," the fruit seller said with his arms crossed. "I'll believe it when I see it."

Across the street, a lone customer sitting on a stool in front of an _Ichiraku Ramen Bar _slowly stirred the noodles inside of the piping hot bowl of ramen with their chopsticks. The cook looked up from cleaning one of his pots and blinked. Leaning forward, he called out, "Miss? Is everything okay?"

"Yes," the young woman said as she pulled down the hood of her cloak, releasing her long, thick red hair. She pushed her glasses further up her nose and wiped away the tears running down the cheek. "I'm sorry, it's just that… He's not dead."

"Huh?" The cook asked. "Who?"

"I knew it… I always knew it, but I never had any proof. But I do now," the young woman said, now more rambling to herself. "He's not dead. He's not dead. He's really not dead. He just can't be."

"Uh… okay then!" The ramen chef said. With a bright smile, he said, "That's great news! Congratulations!"

The young woman looked up and smiled back at the chef. "Thank you! And now that I know, I'm going to track down Uzumaki Naruto and torture him until he tells me where my Sasuke-kun is! Bye!"

The ramen chef lifted his hand to call out, "Wait, you still got to pay!" but by then the woman was gone. Groaning in misery, the chef reach over the counter to pick up the bowl and was surprised to find it empty of everything except for the correct amount of money to cover the cost of meal. His surprise gave way to annoyance when he found that the woman had brazenly carved something into the wooden counter beneath the blow. It was the shape of a heart with an arrow going through it and the names 'Karin & Sasuke-kun' carved inside.

* * *

><p><strong>Training Ground Three, Konohagakure, Four Days after the Summit…<strong>

"That's right, you three did so bad, you don't get to go back to the academy," he explained. "You're all so horrible that the world would probably be better off if you'd just go off in a ditch somewhere and cried about how horrible you each suck for the rest of your lives." The three young children in front of him, one whom was tied to a wooden post, glared daggers at him. Or he supposed that they would be if two of them weren't on the verge of tears. The third looked like he was just about to attack. "I mean, come on, you three didn't even get the point of the test. Kimiko, instead of hiding or looking for your teammates, you attacked me head on, which made it easy to knock you out. In the real world, you're dead in five seconds because of that stunt and now your team is down a member. Yasuo, this is your second attempt at this, you should know better than to ignore your teammates as if they're burdens. And Ichigo, you are not the most badass shinobi to be shat out of the ass of Kami since the invention of Ninjustu. You were just as bad as Kimiko when you rushed in head first."

All three of the genin hopefuls bowed their heads in shame. Slowly, though, Kimiko raised her head and peered at the man who was both deliverer and executioner. "But…," she said, barely restraining her whimper. "W-what's the real purpose of the test, then?" The other two looked up at the question and watched their sensei for a response.

Konohamaru sighed and palmed his face. "It's obviously teamwork," he said with no small amount of despondency. _What are they teaching in the academy anymore?_

"Teamwork!?" Ichigo shouted. "What the hell are you talking about teamwork?! This test was designed to drive us apart! You said that the one who doesn't get a bell fails and goes back to the academy! How can we work as a team when one of us is absolutely going to fail?!"

"Indeed," Konohamaru said. "This test was designed by my grandfather, the Third Hokage, to test teamwork. It's made to drive the team apart so that _I_ can see whether you can put aside your individual desires in order to accomplish something as a team.

"The Sandaime used this test on the Three Legendary Ninja composed of Senju Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya. Orochimaru and Auntie Tsunade were both at the top of the class, but believe it or not, Jiraiya was the dead last. Same thing happened when Jiraiya became a sensei and trained the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato and his team. And then the Yondaime used this test on his team, which included Hatake Kakashi. And the Rokudaime used this test on Uzumaki Naruto, who also happened to be dead last himself and found himself, like Kimiko, tied to a post."

Having said his piece, Konohamaru surveyed his students. They were each looking down at the ground in different stages of despair. Dramatically slumping his shoulders, Konohamaru threw his hands into the air. "Alright, fine, you guys can have another chance."

"R-really, sensei?" Yasuo asked.

"Yeah, really," Konohamaru said rubbing his nose. "But first, you two eat lunch. Kimiko, since you're tied to the stump, you don't get to eat. That's the rules. Got it? I'll be back in a bit!" With a quick body-flicker, Konohamaru found himself in the branches of a tree overlooking the clearing that he'd just been standing in. Taking care not to groan as he leg muscles complained about the abuse he was putting on them just to sit on his haunches on top of such a thin branch, Konohamaru waited for the outcome of the test.

* * *

><p><strong>On the Road from Konohagakure to Uzushiogakure, Five days after the summit…<strong>

'May you live in interesting times' was always one of those sayings that Hinata did not understand until after the Fourth Shinobi World War. As a child, she might be forgiven for believing it to be a blessing. Now that she had three young children to watch out for, she knew better. It was a curse of the highest order. And despite everything she and those around her had gone through since the world had changed ten years ago, she would be the first to admit that, yes, they did indeed live in interesting times.

"I still can't believe we actually found him! I mean, it was _the_ Uzumaki Naruto! The man who could have become Hokage! The Chosen One! He ended the war! Oh man, I getting all fired up just thinking about fighting him!"

"Would you put a sock in it, Flame Brain!" Nakamura Yoko growled. She whipped around, her hair done up in a long braid snapping around her shoulders like an angry whip, and started walking backward so she could point her finger accusingly at her teammate. "It's been six months, Natsu! _SIX MONTHS! _Every day, without fail, you start shouting like a freaking fire obsessed monkey about how great Uzumaki Naruto is and how much you want to fight him. Every. _Fucking. __**DAY!**_"

"Please!" Yamanaka Orihime pleaded, jumping between her teammates with her hands held up in the air. "Please don't fight! We're on a mission, remember. So why can't we get along?"

"We also wouldn't want to lose control of ourselves, would we Yoko?" Hinata asked from behind the trio. She didn't need the Byakugan to see the slight stiffening of Yoko's shoulders. It was pleasing to see the girl exert her self control and reign in her emotions as quickly as she did.

"No," Yoko said quietly as she turned to face forward again. "That would be unacceptable. Sensei, I'm going to walk on the other side of the wagon train."

"That's fine," Hinata said. She watched her student jog forward and slip between the two wagons that made up the train. When she looked back to her other two students, she found the blond Orihime attempting to console a sulking Natsu with soft pats on the back. Interesting times, indeed.

"It's okay, Natsu," Orihime said in her attempt to raise her teammate's spirits. "You know, I think it's incredible that we found Uzumaki-san too."

Natsu grinned a little and then he started laughing loudly with his head thrown back. "Hahaha, of course it was!" he shouted with confidence. "And the next time I see him, or any of the Kage, I'm going to challenge them to a fight and burn them to a crisp!"

"I'm sure you will, Natsu," Orihime said with a smile. Hinata watched this play out without stepping in, deciding it wasn't worth it to point out that Natsu had tried fighting the Hokage before he left for the summit, only to get a 'thousand years of death' as a reward for his efforts. It had been that way since he'd graduated as the dead last.

The boy was decent at taijutsu… well actually, no, if she were being honest in her assessment, Hinata would have to say that Natsu was barely passable at his taijutsu and fought more like a street brawler than a shinobi. The only genjutsu the boy knew was the Clone, and even that was barely passable. But Natsu's one saving grace was his Ninjutsu, specifically, fire nature chakra manipulation.

As an orphan, Natsu had no recorded family name and refused to take one when offered. It left open the possibility that Natsu had a kekkei genkai, which would explain Natsu's preternatural ability to manipulate fire nature chakra on the level he does without any apparent concentration. Not to mention, Natsu didn't ever burn himself with his own flames. To be sure, he was burned by other things, including fire started by others, but not fire natured chakra. It was either a kekkei genkai, or Hinata had an idiot savant on her hands. She'd make either situation work.

Hinata moved her gaze from her overconfident student to the one who always acted as the peace keeper. Yamanaka Orihime was a bit of a klutz. More like a lot of a klutz. She would be oblivious to a ninja sneaking up behind her but would easily pick up if someone was lying or in distress from the subtle variation in the way their voice sounds and the way their face moves. The girl was quite horrid at the Yamanaka clan techniques, but that didn't stop her. She was a true go getter, with a positive attitude, or a facade so thorough that there was no apparent difference.

Orihime's taijutsu was decidedly deadly, unlike her barely passing genjutsu and almost horrifyingly bad Ninjutsu. The girl was aiming to be a medic nin, after all, and had already memorized every chart or medical text she could get her hands on that detailed the inner workings of the human body. The girl was no Tsunade or Sakura, but give her a kunai or even a senbon needle, point he at someone that needed to die, and that person would usually be dead from that one kunai or senbon needle. She knew exactly what pressure points to push and exactly how much pressure to apply to get the result she desired, or so it seemed to Hinata. It was rather amusing to see the normally bubbly, happy, peacemaking Orihime put someone into a paralyzed state with one needle at the base of the neck; the look she got on her face when she was concentrating, half-lidded eyes and lips pushed into a flat line, was rather scary.

"Stop!"

"Oh man," Natsu groaned, "not more weaklings!"

Ahead of the caravan stood a small cadre of men, twelve in all. All of them had swords or spears in their hands, pointed at the two wagon caravan and its ninja guardians. The men were all unshaven and though they were downwind, they clearly hadn't bathed in a while. Hinata's nose curled at the phantom smell.

"It's not every day a caravan as small as this is guarded by shinobi," the lead bandit called out. "That means you must be guarding something important! Give it to us and we'll let you live. If you decide to fight well… those two little girls could net us a lot of money down south."

Hinata's eye caught Natsu's fists curling into fists and his arms straining from how tightly they were being clenched. From the half-lidded expression worn by Orihime, Hinata could guess where her thoughts were going. No doubt Yoko was feeling emotions along similar lines. Slavers, of course, always made her blood boil as well. Perhaps these men didn't need to survive much longer.

"Team eight," Hinata called out, catching everyone's attention. "We only need one alive for intel, do with the rest as you see fit. Use formation two."

"So you're going to resist, eh?" the lead bandit asked with a smirk and a dangerous glint in his eye. "We'll have you know that we're all former shinobi, I'm a former chunin, there's no way you ca-AUUUGH!"

The 'chunin' leader went down with a senbon sticking out of his neck. There was surprisingly little blood coming out, but none of the other bandits noticed this, nor had the time to. Natsu had descended upon the whole group with flames bursting from his mouth. The man he'd landed on screamed as he was immolated to death.

With the battle joined, the other ten bandits scattered. Two ran toward Orihime. Six tried to jump Natsu. The last two ran toward Yoko, who had been standing off to the side with only a kunai in her hand.

Natsu, instead of retreating like a sensible ninja, used the burning corpse of his first victim like a springboard to launch himself at the three oncoming shinobi. "Katon: Explosion!" he shouted as his entire body became wreathed in flame. Shortly thereafter he bowled into the crowd of bandits. The flames then exploded off and away from Natsu's body. The force of the explosion sent all of the bandits flying backwards. Some of them had small patches of fire on them. Others had melted skin and third degree burns wherever their skin was exposed, mostly their face and arms. All of them were in serious pain as they pushed themselves to their feet.

Hinata glanced to her right at the battle that was supposed to be taking place between Orihime and the two bandits there, only it was already done. Orihime was dragging the two corpses to the side of the road, a trail of blood leaking from their slashed necks. Orihime had a disgusted look on her face as she dropped the two bodies on the roadside and moved to help Natsu in front of the caravan.

"Aren't you going to help them, Hyūga-sama?" asked the cart driver of the wagon she was sitting in.

Hinata smiled and faced the man with her eyes closed. "No, they've got, as my friend Lee would say, a lot of youthful energy to burn off. They've been far too cooped up lately. It's best to let off the steam now when they've got something worthy of taking it out on. Besides," and at this point the driver noticed the slightly bulging veins around Hinata's eyes, "I'm keeping an eye on them."

"Of course, Hyūga-sama," the driver said with a small bow of his head. It was foolish, after all, to doubt that Hyūga Hinata was ever going to let anything bad happen to her students. She was, after all, someone who always got what she wanted, one way or another. It was only her family and the few friends she drank with every so often that remembered how she used to be before the war.

"What's with these kids," growled one of the bandits. "They can't be genin! This is ridiculous!"

"We're ridiculous, huh?" Yoko asked in a calm, low voice. "Sure, we're shinobi. We're supposed to be out of the norm. But the ridiculous ones here are not us kids, but you ugly old fat men who sit on their asses all day and then expect to beat actual shinobi who spend all their time training hard." At hearing this declaration, the two men who'd gone after Yoko tightened their grips on the spears they each carried. Murder entered their eyes, but Yoko continued on heedless of it. "What's ridiculous is thinking you ever had a chance of defeating trained shinobi. What's ridiculous is thinking out of shape has-beens would even stand a chance against those who continue to serve and train hard for their people." Yoko snorted at the looks of pure murder and the waves of killing intent coming off of the two men in front of her. "Not to mention… **that killing intent is so weak I could have fended it off as an infant. **If you want to know what real killing intent feels like, how about… _**this.**_"

While the two men were veterans of the Fourth Shinobi world war and had experienced killing intent that the likes of Biju gave off, what hit them next left them on the ground frothing at the mouth. These two men, former men of Iwagakure, had served on the front lines. They still had nightmares of the Zetsu Invasion. Both of them had watched comrades they thought were still alive turn and start killing their friends. Both had born witness to the devastating final clash between Uzumaki Naruto and his masked counterpart, and as a result, felt the terrifyingly huge chakra auras that had been put out on that day. Nothing in their lives since then had ever come close, nothing. It had allowed these two men the ability to cultivate killing intents that were so powerful, lesser men would actually die.

But this little brown haired girl that looked no more threatening than a mouse put out an aura that was so oppressive that it felt like they were suddenly drowning. No, it was worse. They'd seen demons fight, but now it was like they were watching the gates of hell opening. They could practically see the skeletal white hand reaching out from the gates toward their heads. And when they felt those bone fingers scrape against their skulls, their minds finally realized that this was real, they were going to hell, and the King of Hell was personally going to escort them.

From Hinata's point of view, the two men had run up to Yoko, paused for several seconds, and then promptly had simultaneous heart attacks from which they did not recover. Whatever Yoko had shown caused the two men to die from extreme fear. Judging from Yoko's mildly upset expression, it wasn't what she'd been attempting to do.

Hinata watched through her Byakugan as Yoko knelt down and said a small prayer over the two men while Natsu and Orihime finished putting down the other bandits. When it was finally over, and all of the corpses had been pushed to the side of the road, her three students gathered around her.

"Each of you did very well," Hinata said. Natsu was grinning widely, though she suspected it was an attempt to hide his furtive glances as the deeply brooding Yoko. Orihime meanwhile was smiling while not even trying to hide the concern she felt for her teammate. "Orihime, you were quick and efficient, as always. It was good that you were able to help Natsu, though perhaps next time you should be more aware and make sure everyone of the opponents are dead. That last one nearly got you."

"Yes sensei," the girl said contritely.

Hinata smiled from her seat. "Good, now go get that chunin you put into a near death state and load him onto one of the carts. Make sure to keep him in that state until we can hand him off to an interrogator." Orihime smiled, saluted, and ran off to do as told. "Natsu, you were reckless as usual."

"Whaaaaat?! But did you see how I took on six of them and totally kicked ass!? I was awesome out there!"

"You also nearly set the front cart on fire as well as the forest around us," Hinata deadpanned. Natsu chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, but didn't miss the glare Hinata was giving him.

"I'm sorry, sensei, it won't happen again," he said, dropping his head in shame.

"That's what you said the last time," Hinata said, thinking back to what was left of Training Ground Thirteen. It looked marginally better now that the Hokage had officially re-designated it as a wasteland training ground instead of a forested one. "I believe when we get back to the village, there will be more awareness training for you to do."

"Aw man! This sucks!" Natsu spun around and crossed his arms in front of him while throwing his head to the side. It was clear from the small flames dancing on his hair that he was angry.

"Are you complaining?" Hinata asked calmly, raising an eyebrow. The flames on Natsu's hair vanished and his head ducked. "Good. Go help Orihime move that body so we can get moving."

"I'm on it!" Natsu said with a thumbs-up. Then he ran off after Orihime.

"Yoko…" Hinata trailed off when Yoko looked up at her with tears threatening to break out of the corners of her eyes.

"I did it again, sensei! I… I lost control and… and they died." Yoko was breathing heavily at this point and trying mightily to stay in control. Hinata glanced at the driver and he nodded. As soon as the man had hopped off the cart and walked a short distance away, Yoko had thrown herself into Hinata's arms where she started crying uncontrollably. "I'm not even sure what they saw, but it was so terrifying that they died. I'm a monster. A horrible monster."

"Shh, Yoko, it's okay now," Hinata said. "You're not a monster."

"But I am!" Yoko protested.

"Now listen to me," Hinata said, grabbing a hold of Yoko's trembling shoulders and pushing her back so that she could look into the girls puffy red and wet eyes. "You are most certainly not a monster. And even if you were, that doesn't mean you're a bad person. _You_ are a good person. I've seen the way you act when you care about others. And if you hadn't done what you did, those two men would still be dead. If I were in your position, I would have killed them myself. The true monsters in that fight were those bandits, not you."

"B-but sensei," Yoko said. She sniffed loudly and wiped her face with her sleeve. After a moment, she finally reined her emotions and stood with her shoulders squared and her back straight. "I lost control of my power again. Not even mother could control her powers, even after she defeated her inner demon. What if… what if I never gain control of them?" And then more quietly, Yoko asked, "What if it takes control of me?"

Hinata smiled and stroked her hand through Yoko's brown locks of hair. "Yoko, your mother was born with the same condition as you, that's true. It's used to be called the Kurama Clan Curse for a reason, but it's not really a curse. You said so yourself that you've begun to speak with the other voice. When you finally come to terms with it, you won't need to worry about which side is in control of your power, because it will be all you. There won't be two sides any longer."

"I… I'm scared, sensei," Yoko said. She hugged herself and shivered. "What if… what if I can't come to terms with it? What if it's just impossible?"

"Then I think you'll be okay then too," Hinata said.

"Wha-but how?" At the confused expression on Yoko's face, a face usually so stern and often confused for being angry, Hinata couldn't help but giggle.

"You'll be fine because you have the Will of Fire," Hinata said. "The desire to protect your friends with your very life. I have no doubt at all that if it's your friend's lives on the line, you'll do just fine."

"I…" Yoko looked away but remained silent. After a moment, she took a deep breath and faced Hinata. The old spark was now back in the girl's eyes, which gave Hinata a sense of comfort. "I don't know if that's true, but… but I don't want to let them down, so I' try."

Hinata nodded and then made a shooing motion as Orihime and Natsu dragged the much larger man toward the wagon.

* * *

><p><strong>Seven days after the summit, Two kilometers above the ruins of Uzushiogakure, Land of Whirlpools<strong>

Sai peered over the edge of his ink bird toward the ground below. With one hand he held a pair of binoculars to his eyes and with the other, he was pressing the transmit button on the radio secured around his neck.

"Twenty meters to your left, there appears to be another sealed trap. The soil around it has been disturbed in a pattern indicating that it is the explosive variety. Five meters between you and the trap I can see an old barrier line in the dirt, but it has since burned out."

"_I see it._"

"Be careful that you do not cross the barrier line, as you did last time."

"_Bite me!"_

"I'm going to disregard that request. You smell like an old wet dog, and I doubt you taste any better."

"_Hah! I love this kid! Can I keep him as a pet?"_

"_No Kuromaru, y__ou can't. Last one you brought home lodged a complaint with the Hokage, and we don't need any more of that. There." _Sai watched as his teammates, led by the Inuzuka Tsume, cleared the last of the explosive traps in the area. This cleared the last of the trapped sectors blocking access between the ruins of Uzushio and the port by the coast. "_This sector is clear. You get that Shikaku?_"

"_Yes," _came the reply in a much deeper voice, though less gravely than Kuromaru's. "_That was the last sector that needed to be cleared before we could start preliminary housekeeping. Our partners from Iwa say there's something funny with the dirt and the bedrock. Tsume, while that's being investigated, I need you to take your team and head into the village ruins. Keep your eyes in the sky just in case. Let me know if you find anything interesting. And keep your guard up. Even Konoha never knew everything about the seals that the clans in this village came up with._"

"_Copy Shikaku__," _Tsume said.

Then Kuromaru piped up and asked, "_You hear that flyboy?_"

"I did. Are you sure you can find the way, puppy?"

"_He did not just say that," _Kuromaru said. "_Call me puppy, one more time, to my face. I dare you_!"

Sai smiled and tilted his head just so. "But you don't have a face, mangy mutt."

"_I changed my mind. I call first dibs on ripping his throat out."_

"_It's like a never ending circus with you three,"_ another team member said. Sai's smile seemed to grow just a little bit further. It had become so much easier to fit into new social dynamics after ten years of practice. They seemed to be getting along real well now. It wasn't such a sure thing when they'd started out this morning.

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Tower, Konohagakure, Nine days after summit…<strong>

Shikamaru leaned back in his chair and groaned into his hands. He'd accomplished his life's dream. He had a desk job and somehow managed to remain a chunin. He even had begun dating this plain, down to earth, village girl, Reishi. They'd even moved in together to see if they could make the domestic life work, and the signs were looking good from what he could tell.

Of course, it had taken nearly ten years to get to this point in his life. Not the best track record, but all things considered, recovering from a war that nearly ended the world in just ten years must have been a record. A personal record to be sure. It had been _quite_ troublesome, indeed.

Now, just when his life was cruising down easy street and he could look forward to an early retirement, something happens. More specifically, a very troublesome blond that had a habit of screwing everyone's lives up whenever he poked his annoying, troublesome nose into it. Hell, Shikamaru hadn't been able to go cloud watching with Rei for over a month. He really missed those little getaways.

"Don't tell me it's too troublesome, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru opened one eye from behind his hand and saw Neji standing next to him with a bundle of papers in his hands and a calm facade. Calm was likely the last thing that the Hyūga prodigy was at this moment, but he was a strict follower in his families' old protocols. As such, he would never show anything but calm control in any situation.

Ever since the Hyūga Revolution a few years ago, most of the clan had set about updating their style and interpersonal etiquette was one of the things that most in the clan threw away, calling it outdated and obtrusive in everyday life. Shikamaru had to shrug at the feeling, since he'd never had a bunch of stuffy old shirts telling him how he was supposed to behave his whole life.

"Not the work," Shikamaru said. He forced himself to sit up straight for a moment, before he slumped forward and folded both of his hands in front of his mouth while leaning his elbows on his desk. "The whole situation. An entire race of robot space ships that number in the billions, if not trillions, that are hell bent on the utter obliteration of every organic civilization. Yeah, just try telling me that's not troublesome. I dare you."

Neji smirked and the barest of smiles graced his lips. "Oh sure, if you put it that way."

"So what brings you down to this dusty old place?" Shikamaru asked. "It's not like there's a party going on down here. Actually, I think everyone else has gone home for the day."

Neji nodded. "You've read the most material that has been recovered from the Omni-tool, so I wanted your opinion on a project that the Hospital director asked me head up." He handed over the stacks of papers to Shikamaru, who took them and began leafing through them. At first he thought they were more reports about the technology schematics found inside of the Omni-tool. His eyes widened slightly when he realized what they really were.

"These are plans for building new omni-tools with our current technology and skills, aren't they?" Shikamaru asked. He pushed the stack of papers back into order and looked back up at Neji, who was studying him carefully. No doubt trying to decipher his body language. Too bad he was good enough now that he never telegraphed his thoughts anymore. His father had gotten brutal at Shogi after the war, so he'd had to stop pulling his punches on all levels. It had worked out in the end, though. "Why is Shizune asking you to build more Omni-tools?"

"Well, the truth is," Neji said, "we don't actually have the ability to build them. Not really. Their processing power is at least a thousand years more advanced than what we currently have. What I came up with was a hybrid of current electronic technology, Fuinjutsu, and Genjutsu. The interface would be handled by the Fuinjutsu and Genjutsu, but the electronics would be used to link themselves wirelessly to a central server where all the recovered data has been stored."

Shikamaru turned the idea over in his head a few times before he nodded. He didn't really read much about the technology, his focus had been on military tactics and strategies. Wrapping his head around three dimensional combat in space where there was no up or down had taken him three days, and considering no one else had been able to do the same, he figured that was some sort of accomplishment.

"From everything I've read and seen referenced to in the data that I've gone over, this other place has some sort of giant, galaxy wide network of computers that they use to transmit data and communicate with nearly no lag time. So it certainly possible. But in order to get it to work, a lot of the underlying infrastructure would have to be developed alongside these sort-of-omni-tools." Neji nodded, prompting Shikamaru to mentally bash his head into a wall. Of course Neji had come to a similar conclusion. Neji hadn't come down here to ask Shikamaru if it was possible so much as if it would be plausible with their current schedule and economy. "Okay, fine. I'll throw in a good word when I see the Hokage next. Maybe he'll throw you a bone when you ask… or something."

Neji nodded and smiled fully this time. It wasn't a very predatory smile at all, despite how Shikamaru felt like he'd been had. Shizune and the hospital staff weren't the only ones begging for access to the data. Hell, being able to look at footage and read documents in someplace less stuffy than this pit, like say a hillside with a good view of the clouds, would have been a godsend for Shikamaru. And Neji must have known that putting something like that in front of him would have this effect. Smug bastard. "I thank you for your help in the matter. On another topic, are you going to the reunion? We're all meeting up at Ichiraku in an hour or so."

Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his hands through his hair. "Can't. I'm currently five hours behind deadline for a report that the Hokage wanted on updated combat tactics. Let the others know I'm sorry I couldn't be there."

"I'll be sure to pass the message on." Having said his piece, Neji bowed lightly and left Shikamaru alone on the abandoned floor. The nearest living person just happened to be the ANBU guarding the floor above, where the Omni-tool Data was being decoded twenty-four hours a day. At least until the new structures at Uzushio were completed.

"This is so damn troublesome."

* * *

><p><strong>Elsewhere…<strong>

"Those blasted idiots are going to get us all killed," blasted the bombastic voice of number three. "We're not even technologically on their radar and yet they're doing everything in their power get us all killed by them. Those so called "reapers". Damn them and damn that stupid fucking Uzumaki Naruto! He should have died long ago anyway. It shouldn't have gotten to the point where a war could take place, that demon should have been killed the moment he was born. And now look at what consorting with him has gotten us? Is this his so called peace? What utter garbage!"

"Calm yourself, number three," the much calmer and level voiced number four said. "Not everyone is as enlightened as us. If they were, we'd still be in power, wouldn't we?"

"I agree with number three," said the strong and very deep voice of number two. "Not that I could put it so virulently, but he has the right notion. This is all that Uzumaki's fault. Hell, the only reason we, the Independent Union exist is because of the reforms that little bastard inspired in the rest of the world. And after being pushed out of their little club house, being stomped on, spit on, insulted, and denied any access to their markets, let alone their territory, what else could those blowhards expect from us."

"Indeed," said the quiet voiced number ten. "We of the Union will not bend over and take it just so that we can have prosperity. Prosperity in this world has always belonged to those who have the might to take it. It is an indisputable fact that since the Warring States period, our world has always contained conflict and violence. Thrived on it. Thus it has always been that to the victor goes the spoils. The Federation would change this with their weak 'rights' and representatives. The attempt was as useless as it was futile."

"I would speak," said the deep gravelly voice of number one. The other nine numbers fell silent and turned to face the first. "We have long been in conflict with the Federation. But what have we to show for it? Nothing. Every day, we grow weaker. Every day, we lose ground. There is a cause. And we must cut that weakness away as soon as possible. Number five. Goodbye."

"What?! But I-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggghhhhhhh hhhhh!"

The other numbers watched in silence as number five's body burst into flames. The man who had formerly been of Suna was reduced to little more than ash in a few seconds. When it was all done, and the flames danced no more, the chair in which number five had been sitting lowered gently into the floor. A panel slide over the top of it once it had vanished.

"With that bit of business completed," number one said without a hitch in his voice from what he'd just caused, "let us move on." Several of the other numbers swallowed audibly but didn't make much other noise. "Number seven, please report on the status of Project Uzumaki?"

"The project is moving along as scheduled. Staff at the project site in Uzushio do not suspect our involvement at all. I cannot speak to the work number two has done to infiltrate the other parts of the Federation, but our work has thus far has gone unnoticed."

"That's good," number one said, though his gravelly voice barely lilted in any way that showed his elation. If there was any emotion in that man, he had thrown it away long ago. As he'd been trained. "Number eight, report."

"I managed to get one of ours onto the information recovery team in Konoha," number eight said. "The agent will be feeding us everything that the Federation learns, all of their technological breakthroughs, and so on, as they become available."

"It's good to know at least something good came of number five and his screw up," number three said.

"Indeed," number one said. "Very well, for now, we will proceed as planned with our current projects. There will be no action taken against the Federation. We will wait until they fall into a sense of security. Only once the time is right will we strike out against our foe and topple them in one swift stroke."

"**Long live the Independent Shinobi Union**," all of the numbers intoned at the same time as they stood and bowed to number one, who simply stood and watched impassively.

* * *

><p><strong>Main Lab, Research and Development, Uzushiogakure, Six months after Naruto left the Elemental Nations, Four months after the discovery of the Reaper Threat, Two months after the Summit…<strong>

"So you are sure this will work, right?" A asked. "I've seen way too many seals explode and cost lives when things were rushed."

"Yes, I'm sure," head researcher Yamamoto Aoi said with a nod. "I've been studying Space-Time Fuinjutsu for nearly my whole life. I'm willing to bet my life on it that this seal is one hundred percent safe, within context."

"Within context?!" A burst. "Damn it! This shit is the reason I hate dealing with lawyers and Fuinjutsu specialists."

Aoi for her part did not flinch at the Lightning Representatives outburst. She was from Kumo, after all, so she was used to dealing with A and his outbursts, as well as the current Raikage's eccentricities. Her legendary patience coupled with her ability with Space-Time was the reason she was put in charge of this particular project to begin with.

"Are we ready or is there another reason you called us all down here?" asked an increasingly impatient Tsunade. Aoi shivered slightly when she turned to face the Fire rep. Dealing with A was one thing. Tsunade, while she had a similar reputation as A in regards to putting holes in things, was far more temperamental despite her increasingly advanced age. She also had the ability to heal a person. Healing coupled with the ability to deal nearly unimaginable pain was a scary prospect for Aoi, and as such, she felt more than a little bit of fear when dealing with the Legendary Sucker than with the old Raikage.

"N-no, the seal is ready," Aoi said. "All it needs is for the item to be transported to be placed at the center of the seal and then we can begin."

From the gathering of shinobi in the, admittedly, small room, the Hokage strode forward and placed a small scroll that he pulled from inside of his official robes into the center of the sealing array that took up the entirety of the room's floor. Once he'd placed the scroll in the proper position, Kakashi retreated to the shinobi reps and other Kage. Silently, Aoi went about the room, making last minute adjustments to the seal and going over it again one last time.

Finally, Aoi looked to the Kage and Reps. "It's time," she said. "Please take the positions I showed you."

As seven people with the largest chakra reserves moved into position at equidistant positions along the perimeter of the seal, Aoi moved to a computer console along the very edge of the room where she began to initiate the program that would help guide the seal on the floor. Truly, Hyūga Neji was a genius for pioneering electronic chakra manipulation. Fuinjutsu as a field of study had never been this accessible, ever.

"I have a little bit of experience with Fuinjutsu," said Temari from her position at the side of the room, "I use Space-Time Fuinjutsu in summoning. Though I didn't write the seal itself, I became familiar enough with it to understand a little of what is written on the floor here. But this doesn't look anything like reverse summoning to another dimension. And why would it take so much chakra? Aren't all dimensions sort of like in the same space, just not visible to each other?"

"Essentially, you are correct, according to the annotated works of the Yondaime Hokage anyway," Aoi said. "However, we're not connecting to another dimension now, are we?"

"We're not?" Temari asked.

"You haven't been reading the reports, have you sister?" Gaara asked from his position in the array.

Temari blushed but remained silent. "It would appear," Aoi said, "that Uzumaki-san did not go off to another dimension. We followed the signal his tracker seal gave us across the galaxy and to another one entirely. Actually, that we got a signal back across that much space is the miraculous part in my opinion. Perhaps it has something to do with that device he has that enabled him to travel from there and back again. Or, who knows, it could just be some random wormhole that is conveniently helping us out. Whatever the cause, we know exactly where, and more importantly, when Uzumaki Naruto is."

"When?" Gaara asked. "That wasn't in the report."

"Ahh… ehehe…" Now it was Aoi's turn to blush. "That might have… slipped my mind in the report. While tracking Uzumaki-san, I discovered a weird distortion of time and space. Compensating for this distortion was actually a large part of finally getting a lock on his seal. Apparently, in this neighboring galaxy, time flows slower than it does here. I've worked it out to being approximately three time slower. So for ever second they experience, we would have experienced three. The real mind bender is that from the best I can tell, both that galaxy and this one have the same rate of time flow, meaning living there would _feel_ the same way as living here. You simply wouldn't be able to consciously tell the difference."

"So you're saying even though we're moving through time faster than Naruto, he doesn't know it," Tsunade asked, rubbing her temples. "I hate seals. Gramps was always trying to get me to learn them but I'd just wanted to play cards and steal all his money. Looks like it's finally coming back to bite me in the ass."

"You don't need to understand it to accept it," Gaara said.

"Unfortunately," Kakashi said, "since this is the first we're finding out about this, we never got it into the message. And I assume it's too late to stop the seal from activating."

Aoi nodded. "Two minutes until the seal activates. There's no going back now."

"We'll just have to send word to him next time we open communications," A said. "He's probably off sleeping somewhere or getting into trouble."

"Knowing Naruto," Kakashi said, "He's probably getting into trouble and causing things to explode around him. Or eating his way through the Citadel's supply of Ramen."

"That's Naruto, for you," Tsunade said.

* * *

><p><span>Note from the Author<span>

Considering that at the time that Kakashi and Tsunade said those things, Naruto had just woken up from getting a missile to the face, blowing up a gunship, and saving Garrus' scaly hide, I'd say those two know Naruto really well! That said, all of you faithful followers of this story are probably asking one thing and it has nothing to do with what Kakashi or Tsunade think of Naruto. Where have I been for over a year and two months?

Answer: Work, Job Seeking, Family Gatherings, etc., etc. Oh, and also, this little thing called BioWare kept shooting thermonuclear missiles at my happy place. There's that too.

But, a reader might theoretically say, this chapter has nothing to do with BioWare or their Blue/Green/Red Epic Fail. So what gives?

Answer: I hate this chapter. No really, I hated this chapter. It refused to write, and my imagination kept jumping to the parts that would happen after it, or further along, or hell, something not even in this story. Every single time I tried to sit down and write this, I usually ended up reading someone else's fanfiction. Thus, my absolute loathing of this chapter. It. Is. Evil.

That said, I hope you enjoyed it and it was illuminating for you. I tried to explain some of the science (pseudo-science?) involved from the shinobi side of things. This may or may not answer some of your questions, though I'm going to guess it won't make sense to some of you. Let's just say, that the device Naruto uses is unique, not the norm. Anything more about that would be spoilers.

In this chapter, several old favorites are revisited, and it becomes clear that this future is an AU from the Manga. Most obviously because Neji is still kicking (or poking… or whatever it is he does). I've also introduced several new OCs, specifically, if anyone of you is sharp enough to notice, are expies of their counterparts in other manga/anime. No, I am no crossing this story over with anything beyond Naruto/Mass Effect. They are, strictly, expies. They won't be exhibiting magical abilities that defy this universe's set examples (specifically, Chakra and Eezo). The most you can expect are similar character traits, catch phrases, and equivalent abilities where applicable (Natsu causing an explosion by itself is, obviously, not something he can do in Earthland. Ninja Natsu, though, can. Thus it is debatable who is more destructive…).

Review Corner

Edboy4926 and MEleeSmasher both brought up the Leviathans… over a year ago (as if I needed another reminder about how long this chapter took). The Leviathans are an enigmatic group at best. Their motives are often portrayed as not that much better than the Reapers or the Intelligence. After all, it was the Leviathan's ancestors who created the Intelligence to begin with. And from Shepard's encounter with them in the ME3, I'm not inclined to believe they're all that sorry about the way things have turned out. True, they have been run off to the darkest corners of the galaxy and I have no doubt they're annoyed by that. But at the same time, they are defending the Intelligences' solution to the problem of the Cycle right from the beginning of their little interaction with Shepard. Their goals, in ME3, may have been the same as Shepard in so far as stopping the Intelligences' current solution but beyond that they haven't indicated where they would go. Hell, they may have only helped Shepard against the Reapers and the Intelligence just so they could take over the galaxy again. And now that I've introduced the idea into the ME 'verse that other galaxies have intelligent life too, no doubt they'd try to take over there too. So, do I intend to involve the Leviathans in my story? I can't afford not to, but really, the appropriate question is: Do they intend to involve themselves in the affairs of Shinobi?

Quathis, Wonijs, Puffdadder, and to a greater extent IMS all told me that if I don't like the ending of ME3, that I should change it. This _is_ fanfiction after all. And you know what, they're right. I hate the ending of ME3, extended or not. It's still all RED/GREEN/BLUE space magic to me. So… without giving too much away, if the Reapers, and by extent the Intelligence thinks that there's no way organics of any cycle can defeat them in conventional warfare, they're in for a rude awakening. Main reason: Shinobi are anything but conventional. Plus: Uzumaki Fucking Naruto, the King of Luck.

Haha, just thought of a joke. Reapers arrive in the galaxy, they're getting ready to go into all out war and 'ascend' the lesser races. Only, they arrive on the scene and find… the galaxy has already been completely cleansed. There is, in fact, only one sentient being still standing on the citadel. He's got 13 badges and the Reapers curse his name as they fly back out into dark space. Gary Motherfucking Oak. Some of you will either find this hilarious or confusing. If it is the former, internet points for you. If the later, then I point you toward Pokémon on TV Tropes (Also, Welcome to the Internet!).

IMS asked, "Who is [Naruto] now than just a random incarnation of the same face that happens to be not evil?" That, sir, is the question that Naruto will be coming face to, err, face in the near future. At least now Naruto can get away with saying it was his evil twin that did it, ne? Don't think that will work on the scale that Naruto's got to deal with, but still, the point stands.

Blinded in a bolthole couldn't help but hope for a redeemed clone, like Grunt. Grunt, after all, is an example of one and it should be possible for a Naruto clone to choose the same. There are differences though. Yes, Grunt and the Shadow Broker's pet army were both created with similar technology, but toward different ends. Warlord Okeer was looking for a way to create a perfect Krogan. All the Shadow Broker cared about was customizing the Naruto DNA he had to make perfect Super Ninja Soldiers. That said, keep a look out anyway. Who knows what the future will hold.

Blind also pointed out that Orochimaru would also be capable of doing the same thing as the Shadow Broker, only with Fuinjutsu and Chakra manipulation. This is true, but to an extent. I don't believe that Orochimaru was as adept at manipulating DNA as everyone might think he was. It's true, he knew how to manipulate bloodlines and integrate them together. But this knowledge came from the brute force method of experimentation, that is, he began putting things together in whatever way he could until he found a way that worked, and then refined it from there. Orochimaru and the shinobi world obviously know what DNA is, but they don't seem to understand it completely, like the ME universe does. Put plainly, the shinobi don't have the human genome, just the theory that states it's there. Would Orochimaru have been able to do the same thing as the Shadow Broker? No doubt, he could have, after several years of attempting to do so with many, many, _many_, failures. Shadow Broker, meanwhile, walks up to a computer, punches in what he wants, and out pops a fully grown Super Naruto Clone. Same result, different methods. I guess it really just goes to show how despicable Orochimaru is, when even the Shadow Broker appears less a monster in comparison (ironic because Yahg are fairly monstrous in appearance).

Also, Blind, I'm glad you and others like my inclusion of a Naruto Clone Army. You're right, it does kind of act like a balance against Naruto, who can reshape the landscape on his own (and destroy the Citadel too, apparently). Not to mention Sasuke and Sakura, capable shinobi in their own right, are also out there to be dealt with.

So, Puffdadder, you think you know who Shepard's final pairing will be, eh? Well too bad, I'm not telling, but I can confirm who it isn't. No, it will not be Shepard/Sasuke. What kind of ship would that be anyway? Shepuske? Saspard? The names are hilarious enough on their own without trying to add Broody McBrood to Badass-Chosen-One. That is crack pairing, my friend. One even I am not up to writing. Though if anyone else wishes to one-shot it, just tag my story and name to it and go nuts. Hehe, and AU of an AU.

Hermes Tonsil. I am thrilled you are engrossed in my story. And you're welcome very much.

Anseloth, I'm sorry, but I won't be letting anyone else write this story, or ghostwrite, or anything like that. It would take too long to get anyone else up to date with everything I've come up with concept wise and plus, I'd lose creative license. That said, when ME3 time rolls around, there will be plenty of room for others to join if they so wish. Just as ME3 supplements the main story with the Multiplayer, where everyone playing creates a side narrative of other characters fighting the Reapers/Geth/Cerberus/Collectors, so too are there going to be multiple fronts and battles going on in the Reaper War in this version. Only it's not now, it's later when the main war is going on. However, I don't want to be a downer or anything. If you feel strongly enough about a direction I didn't take, then feel free to write it. This is, as has been so fluently pointed out to me, Fanfiction. So, fanfiction my fanfiction if it fits your fancy. Just be sure to note your stories connection to this one and credit me as the originating author for the version of the 'verse you're using (cause otherwise it'd just be an original fanfiction… err, is that even possible?)

A guest reviewer asked if I was a professional writer. They noted that everything I wrote fit together very well. The truth, no, I'm not a professional writer, but it's been said (and I forget who, I think Mark Twain) that authors are never experts in their craft. I forget the saying, but that is the gist of it. So, no, I'm not a professional writer, but I do enjoy writing. It's an obsessive hobby of mine. If one day I write an original story (or an extended universe Star Wars book) and have it published, I guess that I would then become professional, maybe. Still, it makes me kind of warm inside to think someone thinks so highly of my work. Thank you.

Have a Little Feith points out that the boxer scene at the end of chapter 10 is completely unrealistic. And he's right. It is, but it's not meant to be completely realistic. It's more of a pick me up/gag/omake moment than a serious part of the plot. Both Naruto and ME have gag moments like that, so while it was unrealistic, I felt it was at least a good attempt at blending the two universes. But, everyone's got their own preferences, and I can't win all my battles. In any case, thanks for your input.

To the rest of you dear readers who have reviewed, faved, alerted, and waited these many months patiently, thank you very _very_ much. And all of the rest of you readers are just as awesome. Thanks for reading chapter eleven of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission. Hope it lived up to your expectations.


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